Political Representation, Power and Inequalities

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Increasingly, scholars working on the subject of political representation emphasize its constitutive aspects. Representation does not simply mirror socio-political realities (an understanding of re-praesentare that centers on the spatial-temporal gap between the citizenry and its leaders). Representation, rather, is indispensable for the constitution of such realities: it is only after and through being offered representations of itself that a people can find itself together, implied in a collective body or generality (an understanding of re-praesentare that treats re-iteration as the foundation of inter-subjective conceptions of what is real).
These insights are routinely described as implying a ‘constructivist turn’ in the representation literature. But what is it that we are turning away from? And where are we turning to? And, more fundamentally, what is lost and gained by this new understanding of political representation? (cf. Näsström 2011; Saward 2010; Disch 2015, Severs and Dovi 2018). The papers in this panel all offer a critical interrogation of the contemporary representation literature and discuss how the ‘constructivist turn’ is affecting our understanding of power (inequalities) and is shaping how we theorize representation fairness, citizen-state relations, citizen-citizen relations, and the ethics of political representation.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Individual Presentations

• Revisiting the Justice Argument: Fairness, Compensation, and Antidote - Suzanne Dovi, University of Arizona

• 2. Unrepresentative Claims: Refusing to Represent as Legitimation - Samuel Hayat, CNRS

• 3. Political Responsiveness: A Constructivist Re-appraisal - Eline M. Severs, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Chair

• Eline M. Severs Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Discussant

• Mark E. Warren University of British Columbia