Toxic Representative Ecosystems: Two Kinds of Threats

Most theoretical and philosophical accounts of political representation conceptualize representation as a binary relationship– that is, as a relationship between an individual representative and the represented, e.g. as a principal-agent relationship (Pitkin)or as claim-making (Saward). In contrast, I recommend shifting our perspective of representation from being a binary relationship to being an political ecosystem, one whose “health” depends on its filtering function. Indeed, I hold that the filtering function of representative ecosystems both sustains and legitimates democratic governance by weeding out interests, opinions, and perspectives as they bring in and make present other interests, opinions, and perspectives. Put bluntly, representative processes are effective and efficient mechanisms of democratic governance because they filter. As such, representative processes do not merely seek to bring in opinions, perspectives, and interests. Nor do representative processes function exclusively as barriers, that is, an institutional mechanism whose sole function is to keep out certain opinions and interests. Rather, the filtering function of a representative ecosystem requires a balance between the claims, interests, and opinions coming in with those being kept out or eliminated. A proper representative filter adequately keeps out or at least maintains the desired minimal levels of toxins. Understanding representation as an filtering ecosystem allows political theorists to be in a better position to diagnose toxic representation. In particular, this perspective of representation helps us diagnose two kinds of threats to representative ecosystems: 1) overexploitation and 2) invasive species. Both threats prohibit representative systems from filtering fairly and justly. Overexploitation occurs when a group obtains disproportionate and unjust control over political, social, and economic resources while an invasive species occurs when a group introduces and spreads undemocratic and unjust claims. These threats to an ecosystem highlight the importance of examining the interactions among different claims and how claims can impact the distribution of political, economic, and social resources in ways that undermine accountability as well as sustain structural injustice. An ecosystem approach to representation shifts our focus from bringing in, to that of equilibrium, one that balances the needs and concerns of various groups and that seeks to maintain the presence of certain groups to a non-threatening level.