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Call for papers: Political Representation: New Forms of Measuring and Old Challenges
DEADLINE: June 15, 2009; Workshop at the University of Berne, Switzerland on November 12-13, 2009
Workshop on “Political Representation: New Forms of Measuring and Old Challenges”
Abstract
In social sciences, ’representation’ is a well studied research topic. For early liberal political scientists at the beginning of the establishment of representative democracies such as John Stuart Mill or James Madison, the research on conditions of the best political representation was one of the main preoccupations. Since then, research on ’representation’ has widely differentiated.
We can at least distinguish between three approaches for measuring ’representation’, each of them basing on different normative starting points and using different measures.
1. The procedural approach (proportional representation) bases on a minimalist liberal model that defines democracy as a method for the selection of political elites by elections.
Political representation is seen as an important prerequisite for the elite to act in the interest of the represented. The degree of representation in this view depends on the congruence between votes and seats that depends on different institutions.
2. Contrary to the procedural approach, the substantial approach (issue / policy representation) focuses on the output and not on the input side of representation. This approach bases on a responsive model of democracy: representatives act responsively if they take political decisions that citizens want. The degree of representation thus depends on the (issue-)congruence between the preferences of the representatives and the represented in given policies.
3. In the understanding of the descriptive approach of representation (social representation), the degree of representation is highest when minorities are adequately mirrored in the representative body. Basing on the principle of equality, this approach highlights the importance of a fair, i.e. inclusive representation. This needs a minimal foundation of confidence between the representatives and the represented that can only result when the former share important characteristics (such as gender, provenance, social background, etc.) and views with the latter. All three approaches have quite a long tradition in political science. Beginning with Duverger, Rae, Miller and Stokes or Pitkin, the measurement of representation has developed over time, together with the amount of contributions focusing on the vote-seat-paradigm, the adequate measurement of issue congruence or the inclusion of minorities.
Today, representative democracies face new challenges. The decrease of confidence in the political elite – the representatives – certainly belongs to the most important ones. To have a better insight why representation does not seem to fulfil its job any more, we should care about new forms of representation, and about instruments that enhance representation and trust. In our workshop we want to take a first step into this direction by discussing new possibilities of measuring political representation. In particular we welcome contributions covering the following topics and questions:
1. We lack an integrating view that combines the three approaches, which are often defined as competing against the others.
2. In recent years Internet applications gave us opportunities to calibrate the congruence between preferences of candidates and voters in a more fine grained way. But up to now there is only little knowledge whether the widespread use of such applications has an impact on the processes of political representation, and if yes, in what way and to which degree political representation is influenced.
3. The classic representational study is based on survey data. But there are additional data sources (e.g. data from the above mentioned Internet applications or from quantitative text analysis). Could a broader database open new and better insight on political representation in general and issue congruence in particular?
4. Basing on surveys, we can see that parties increasingly seem to be the least credible political actors. We should ask whether the organization of the representation of interests still should be done by parties or whether we should broaden our concepts on more informal forms of representation through NGOs, interest groups and so on.
Organisation
The workshop will take place at the University of Berne, Switzerland on November 12-13, 2009. It is organized by the projects IP14 “Democracy Barometer” and IP16 “smart-voting” from the NCCR Democracy research program (www.nccr-democracy.uzh.ch). The workshop is likely to include about 20 contributions. The NCCR Democracy will cover travel costs and accommodation.
Procedure and possible publication
- Deadline for proposals (1-2 pages, in English): June 15, 2009.
- Notification of acceptance: July 3, 2009.
- Submission of full papers (15-25 pages, in English): October 26, 2009.
- A later publication of selected contributions is intended.
Further information
Marc Bühlmann (marc.buehlmann@zda.uzh.ch), Jan Fivaz (fivaz@nccr-democracy.uzh.ch), Daniel Schwarz (daniel.schwarz@zda.uzh.ch)
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