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Abstract
In this exploratory study I join the ongoing research on digitalization of political representation. In the literature on the use of the new information and communication technologies (ICTs) by the parliamentary and congress members in the Western countries, it is often argued that online engagement has the potential to improve the quality of political representation by means of more direct and individualized communication between representatives and represented. Following the scholarly research on digitalization of political representation in the Western countries, I ask how people’s congress deputies in China appropriate social media for representative communication. I first define political representation in terms of interest expression. I then apply Michael Saward’s representative claim-making perspective and analyse the content of interactions between people’s congress deputies and netizens in the Weibo microblogging sphere in the period between 2013 and 2018. To identify, analyse and categorize online claims, I propose the concept of e-representation, operationalized in terms of individualization, everydayness, interactivity and connectivity. The analysis of online blogging is further complemented by semi-structured interviews with acting and former PC deputies of national and provincial congresses, popular Weibo bloggers (so-called Big V) and academic experts conducted in China throughout 2018–2019. The presented analysis provides empirical evidence from China that also has several theoretical implications. First, it tests Saward’s model by revealing the predominance of incomplete claims. Second, it also shows that claims on representation and misrepresentation are in abundance compared to claims of representation, which are rare. The Chinese case may thus contribute to a more refined typology of representative claims.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Tormey, The End of Representative Politics.
2 Coleman, “New Mediation and Direct Representation,” 177–198.
3 Zittel, “Political Representation in the Networked Society,” 32–53; deLisle et al., The Internet, Social Media, and a Changing China; Han, Contesting Cyberspace in China; Jenkins et al., Participatory Culture in a Networked Era; Heberer and Shpakovskaya, “The Digital Turn in Political Representation in China," 4–41.
4 Karlsson and Åström, “The Political Blog Space,” 480.
5 Karlsson, Covering Distance.
6 Lilleker and Koc-Michalska, “Online Political Communication Strategies,” 190–207; Enli and Skogerbø, “Personalized Campaigns in Party-Centred Politics,” 757–774; Hansen and Kosiara-Pedersen, “Cyber-Campaigning in Denmark,” 206–219; Jungherr, “Twitter Use in Election Campaigns,” 72–91.
7 See note 4 above, 465–483.
8 For example Manion, Information for Autocrats; Truex, “Consultative Authoritarianism and Its Limits,” 329–361.
9 Fang, “Hulianwang + Renda Daibiao Lüzhi,” 20.
10 For example, Manion, see note 8 above; Wang, “Playing by the Rules,” 870–885; Huang and He, “Striking a Balance between Contradictory Roles,” 103–134; Kamo and Takeuchi, “Representation and Local People's Congresses in China,” 41–60.
11 Huang and He, “Striking a Balance between Contradictory Roles,” 103–134; Zheng, “Political and Ethnic Representation in Chinese Local Governance.”
12 Zhang, “Reexamining the Electoral Connection in Authoritarian China,” 1–27.
13 Wang, “A Research of the CCP Nomination System for Deputy Candidates and Its Influence on Chinese People's Congress," 44–50.
14 Truex, see note 8 above.
15 Chen, “Getting Their Voices Heard,” 46–70.
16 For example, see O’Brien, Reform without Liberalization; Shigong, “Written and Unwritten Constitutions,” 12–46; Truex, “The Returns to Office in a ‘Rubber Stamp’ Parliament,” 235–251.
17 For example, see Jiang, “Renda Daibiao de Daibiaoxing Neihan Yanji,” 81–82.
18 Huang, “Difang Renda Daibiao Lianxi Qunzhong Zhidu ji qi Wanshan,” 18–21.
19 Long, “Ruhe Liyong Wangluo Pingtai Miqie Lianxi Qunzhon,” 43.
20 See note 17 above.
21 Pan, “Tisheng Renda Daibiao Lianxi Renmin Qunzhong de Shixiaoxing,” 38–43.
22 See note 15 above, 64.
23 Yang, “Tixi Jixiao, Zhili Xiandaihua yu Renmin Daibiao Dahui Zhidu,” 89.
24 Accessed August 17, 2019. http://www.gov.cn/zhuanti/2017-10/27/content_5234876.html.
25 Accessed September 5, 2017. http://politics.people.com.cn/n1/2016/0430/c1001-28316212.html.
26 Wang, “Sange Chuangxin Zengqiang Daibiao Lianxi Qunzhong Shixiao, Renda Jiansh,” 31.
27 Pitkin, The Concept of Representation, 209.
28 Jacka and Sargeson, “Representing Women in Chinese Village Self-Government,” 477–494.
29 Chen and Yang, “Movement-Oriented Labour NGOs in South China,” 155–175.
30 Saward, The Representative Claim; Disch, “Toward a Mobilization Conception of Democratic Theory,” 100–114; Näsström, “Where Is the Representative Turn Going,” 501–510.
31 Saward, The Representative Claim, 305.
32 Adapted from Saward 2010, 36.
33 Saward, “The Representative Claim,” 297–318.
34 Coleman specifies four normative characteristics of connected representation, namely closeness, mutuality, coherence and empathy. In contrast, disconnected representation is characterized by distance, detachment, exclusivity and aloofness. See Coleman, “The Lonely Citizen: Indirect Representation in an Age of Networks,” 197–214.
35 Accessed August 26, 2019. https://www.chinainternetwatch.com/tag/weibo
36 Chengguan (城管) are urban forces responsible for management and law enforcement in the cities in China.
37 Interview, Shandong province, 16 March 2019.
38 Interview, Beijing, 28 March 2018.
39 Interview, Guangzhou, 7 March 2019.
40 Interview, Hangzhou, 4 April 2018.
41 Interview, Beijing, 26 March 2018.
42 Jiang and Kang, “Managing the Micro-Self,” 14.
43 Repnikova and Fang, “Authoritarian Participatory Persuasion 2.0,” 763; Repnikova and Fang, “Digital Media Experiments in China,” 679. The authors refer to more subtle and orderly mechanisms of control and persuasion applied by the party-state to facilitate public complicity with the regime in the digital age.
44 For example, Pieter de Wilde provides an analytical framework for measuring the quality of claims and hypothetically links discursive completeness of claims to their mobilizing capacity (See de Wilde, “The Quality of Representative Claims”).
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Anna Shpakovskaya
Anna Shpakovskaya, PhD ([email protected]), is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Duisburg-Essen University, Germany. She is currently working on the international research project ‘(New) Political Representative Claims: A Global View—France, Germany, China, Brazil, India Compared’. Her current research is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).