Political Representation beyond Electoral Democracy

Abstract

Traditionally, political representation has been studied within the framework of ‘electoral democracy’; that is the subset of representative relationships structured by elections. The framework has favoured geographically bound constituents (i.e. voters) and their relationships with elected representatives. Extending the focus beyond electoral democracy, the papers in this panel study non-electoral forms of political representation (such as civil society representatives and referenda) and their relationship to formal politics, analyse how the representation of non-geographically bound groups (such as youth) takes place in parliament, and advance a model for studying the multidimensionality of representation.