Contemporary Challenges for Representative Institutions in European Democracies

Abstract

The panel deals with contemporary challenges that representative institutions in European democracies are facing when it comes to the realization of substantive and descriptive representation, such as the representation of women and of future generations in democratic institutions, whether and how governments are responsive to the pledges their parties made in election manifestos, and how citizens view their representatives’ performance. The panel is organized by the Austrian Political Science Association (OEGPW) and comprises four papers dealing with challenges of representation: (1) The first paper presented in our panel addresses a problem that concerns the majority of contemporary European democracies – the unequal descriptive representation of women and men in institutions of democratic representation. Looking at the case of Austria, the paper examines the different strategies that are adopted by political parties for the promotion of gender equality in political institutions. The paper brings to light the great diversity among political parties in their appraisal of the necessity to promote gender equality in political institutions. (2) Many European democracies are governed by coalition governments. This raises the question of how policy pledges that are made by political parties in electoral manifestos are taken up and realized in coalition governments. Using the case of Austria, the second paper presented in our panel looks at the factors that determine the ‘life cycle’ of policy pledges that are made by government parties in coalition governments. (3) The third paper in our panel speaks to the question of how legislative institutions can contribute to the democratic representation of future generations. The paper examines the performance of an institutional innovation that has been implemented in the early 2000s in the German Bundestag: The Parliamentary Advisory Council for Sustainable Development (PBnE). The paper asks: “What is the PBnE’s track record in German sustainability politics and what does that tell us about the practicality of representing future generations through parliamentary bodies?” (4) The forth paper in our panel sheds light on how democratic institutions are evaluated by citizens. Looking at the case of Belgium, the study evaluates responses of citizens on democracy and elected representatives and shows under which rationale citizens praise or criticize different dimensions and actors of democracy. The paper presents citizens’ (critical) views on representative democracy in Belgium and discusses how qualitative and quantitative approaches can be combined in representation research.

Title	Details
Representing Future Generations and Seeking Re-Election? A Performance Evaluation of the Parliamentary Advisory Council for Sustainable Development in the German Bundestag	View Paper Details
The Dynamics of Policy Implementation in Coalition Governments	View Paper Details
Women's Substantive Representation in the Bundestag: Evidence from 486 Committee Hearings	View Paper Details