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The Representative Turn in Democratic Theory

Project overview

In recent years we have been witnessing a markable shift in normative democratic political theory: the emergence of political representation as neither an alternative to, or fall back from, democratic self-government, but as the best way to realizing it. With this “representative turn” in democratic political theory, the vexed question of the relationship between democracy and representation has been reopened, giving rise to a comprehensive theoretical and empirical exploration of democratic representation that is coalescing in what can be deemed the third wave of democratic theory since the 1960s. The study of representative democracy is now ready to take its rightful place alongside the two main previous ways of theorizing democratic politics: the participatory and the deliberative. The main objective of this research project is to publish a multi-authored edited volume that brings together chief contributors to the representative turn to discuss what we speak about when speak about a "turn" and the future directions this "turn" might be taking.

Dr Brito-Vieira has been awarded a Small Research Grant from the British Academy to pursue this project.

***Call for papers for a York Graduate Conference: Enacting the People: Political Representation and Democratic Legitimacy (deadline: 31 July 2015)***

Research Starts: 01/04/2015

Research Ends: 31/08/2016