The Representative Relation in Practice: Perspectives from Citizens and Representatives

Abstract

This panel investigates the representative relation as a dynamic and contested practice shaped by both citizens and representatives. Building on constructivist approaches, the papers explore how representative relationships are claimed, performed, demanded, interpreted, and disrupted across different institutional, communicative, and affective settings. By examining the perspectives of both claim-makers and those claimed to be represented, the panel traces how legitimacy, authority, and political inclusion are negotiated in practice. Konle and Lacey analyse how candidates and political professionals perform, adapt, or morally navigate representative claims under public or adversarial conditions—from televised citizen-facing debates to ethically fraught election campaigns. Kinski turns to parliamentary speech to map where group appeals fall short of representative claims, raising normative questions about presence without representation. Mossuz explores how citizens co-construct representations in letters to MPs, revealing the ambivalent and sometimes self-defeating demands placed on representatives. Meinel theorises “perceived entitlement to representation” as a precondition for any claim to political voice, highlighting how social cues and normative frames shape who is seen as eligible for representation. Taken together, these papers cast light on how representative relationships are formed and on the democratic tensions that emerge when citizens and representatives interact as co-constructors of political legitimacy.

Title	Details
Perceived Entitlement to Representation: Pre-Conditions of Representative Relations	View Paper Details
Elite Perspectives on the Normativity of Election Campaigns: Empirical Political Theory and Adversarial Ethics	View Paper Details
Present, but Not Represented? Representative Claims and Group Appeals in Parliamentary Debates	View Paper Details
Lights, Camera, Claim! The Performance of Representative Claims in Televised Citizen-Candidate Encounters	View Paper Details
Behind the Rainbow: Challenges and Careers of LGBTQIA+ Representatives in Belgium	View Paper Details
Demanding and Constructing the Good/bad Representative: Insights from Letters and Emails to French MPs	View Paper Details