Claims of Representation in Democratic Innovations

Representative democracy is under considerable strain worldwide. The core of the problem is the fractured relationship between citizens and elected representatives (Dalton et al. 2011). Many citizens no longer feel that elections and political parties adequately ensure representation (Van Biezen 2014, Pappas and Kriesi 2015). While scholars agree that representative democracy is broken (Mair 2008), there is little agreement about how to repair it (Rosanvallon 2008, Mair 2009, Saward 2008). One possible way to improve the broken linkage between citizens and representatives is by reconceptualizing democracy as a constitutive process of claim-making. In this way, we broaden the scope of actors (elected representatives authorized by elections and self-selected representatives not authorized by elections) and procedures (traditional electoral democracy, democratic innovations) engaged in democratic decision making - bridging representation, participation, and deliberation into a functional and responsive system of democratic governance. However, broadening the scope of representation beyond electoral authorization opens up a conceptual and empirical challenge - it is no longer evident who speaks for whom and why s/he is entitled to do so (Warren 2001, Urbinati and Warren 2008). How can we conceptually capture and empirically grasp this cacophony of representative claims? We propose to proceed by using a novel conceptual and analytical framework (typology of representative claims) to assess the claims raised by self-selected representatives. This allows us to answer the question who (claims to) speak for whom. Using this approach, we compare three recent democratic innovations on local and state level in Germany – participative budgeting in Münster (2011-2016), the council of foreigners in Frankfurt (2005-2017) and school reform referendum initiated by citizens in Hamburg (2008-2010). We analyze the claims raised by self-selected actors: individual citizens in Münster, citizen associations in Hamburg and representatives of foreigners in Frankfurt.