Representation is not only a buzz–word in contemporary political theory but also a conceptual platform from which questions about the performance of old forms of democracy and the potential of new varieties are launched. This volume is primarily concerned with equality as a basic component of the democratic character of representation. In other words, of the many types of equality that have attracted the attention of theorists since democracy’s beginnings – political, socio-economic, anthropological, or arithmetic equality, equality before the law, equality of opportunity – we would like to draw attention to representational equality, that is, the role of equality in systems of democratic representation. In what form is equality present in traditional forms of electoral representation? How can it be secured in new forms of representation, such as claim-making, deliberative, kleroterian, and epistemic representation? And to what extent are electoral or non-electoral models of representation able to accommodate increasing social inequalities? The articles in this volume discuss these issues from a normative and conceptual point of view, seeking to shed new light on the important but under-explored relationship between equality and representation.
Both traditional and new forms of representation face important challenges in the domain of equality. For example, equality of formal political rights and equal opportunities to participate in elections are insufficient guarantees against inequalities produced by historical injustices at the expense of minorities, women, and other socially disadvantaged groups. On the other hand, recent attempts to develop new criteria for political representation, such as those that disconnect representation from election, are faced with a conundrum: although they often (but not always) aim to correct for the inequalities embedded in electoral representation, they in fact risk producing new inequalities, for example, by circumventing universal participation. How can non-electoral representation escape these self-defeating effects?
Responding to these problems, Michael Saward analyzes how non-elective representative claims can create enhanced visibility for various types of inequalities, and Eva Erman argues that equal political inclusion should be a necessary democratic requirement for deliberative systems. Likewise, Lisa Hill criticizes epistemic approaches to electoral representation that favor quality over quantity of voter participation. Further on, Anthoula Malkopoulou explores the concept of negative representation that allows citizens to de-select political candidates in order to defend democratic equality, while Dirk Jörke suggests granting veto power to disadvantaged citizens to overcome their political marginalization. Along similar lines, Peter Stone puts forward a new type of democratic equality based on equal distribution of public office implicit in systems of sortition. Finally, Winfried Thaa’s article criticizes the rise of social inequalities in the current system of electoral representation due to the replacement of party issues with media images. The issue concludes with a discussion by Nadia Urbinati, who draws attention to the erosion of both traditional representative institutions and socio-economic equality, making the study of their relationship all the more urgent.
Uppsala University
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Lisa Hill
University of Adelaide
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