Self-Appointed Representation and Self-Determination

It is traditionally thought that democratic self-constitution is impossible: a people must already exist for it to decide matters democratically. I claim that self-appointed representatives enact “the people” through their claims, thus providing opportunities for the people to self-determine by accepting or rejecting claims made on their behalf. Whereas existing literatures assume that a people knows its interests and pre-exists representation in some institutionally configured form, a claim of representation provides an opportunity for people to understand themselves as affected by a good or issue, bringing new constituencies into being. When a representative names and narrates problems, feelings, and silent experiences of injustice, individuals gain knowledge about themselves and their group, enabling demands for justice and reparation. Representation can transform a latent constituency into a self-conscious and effective one. This constitutive understanding of representation recasts this traditional, core premise of democratic theory and practice; enabling a people to democratically self-constitute.