Modes of Political Representation: Toward a New Typology

Changes in electoral politics in contemporary democracies have contributed to shifting the focus of research from parties to individual candidates. The 2013 Italian Candidate Survey (ICS) has collected original survey data with the aim of gaining new insights into the role of political elites, looking in particular at the candidates running for office in the last Italian general election. Based on interviews with individual candidates, the ICS provides a tool for analysing party members; and for comparing them with voters in several ways. In this paper, we spell out the main features of our research that was conducted within the framework of a larger project that examined political representation in Italy between 2013 and 2015. Moreover, we offer three examples of potential applications of ICS data. First, we present a model of political representation favoured by Italian candidates that matches with a well-known typology of political representation. Second, we utilize our ICS data to estimate candidates' policy preferences and to assess the level of congruence with their voters. Finally, by comparing the distribution of candidates' self-placements and their own party mean position on the left-right scale, we show how our data can be used to explore intra-party cohesion.

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“…Following Andeweg and Thomassen (2005), we operationalized the dimensions defining their typology by using responses to the following questions:…”

Section: Modes Of Political Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Candidates in 2013 Italian general election: evidence from the Italian Candidate Survey

Virgilio

Giannetti

Pedrazzani

et al. 2015

Riv. Ital. Sci. Polit.

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“…A representative, by definition, should be both. Accordingly, scholars have developed other theoretical typologies of representation (see, for example, Andeweg & Thomassen, 2005;Mansbridge, 2003;Rehfeld, 2009).…”

Section: Democratic Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Legitimacy of Representation: How Descriptive, Formal, and Responsiveness Representation Affect the Acceptability of Political Decisions

Arnesen

Peters

2017

Comparative Political Studies

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We examine how descriptive representation, formal representation, and responsiveness affect the legitimacy of political decisions: Who are the representatives, how are they selected, what is the outcome of the decisionmaking process, and to what extent do these three aspects matter for decision acceptance among the citizens? We examine this from the citizens' perspective, and ask whether decisions are perceived as more legitimate when they are made by groups that reflect society in certain characteristics and chosen according to certain selection procedures. In a Norwegian survey experiment, we find that people are more willing to accept a decision when it is made by a group of people like them, and who are assigned as decision makers based on their expertise. Descriptive representation also serves as a cushion for unfavorable decisions. Moreover, when asked, the traditionally less advantaged groups tend to value descriptive representation more than other citizens.

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“…According to role theory, attitudes towards representation, including territorial representation, have an effect on how representatives conceive their mandate and prioritize between different aspects of it (Andeweg and Thomassen, 2005; Blomgren and Rozenberg, 2012). As several studies have shown, the representational roles and the way MEPs engage in various activities in the EP are often related to whom they want to represent (Wessels, 1999;Farrell and Scully, 2007).…”

Section: Focus Of Representation and Role Orientations Of French Mepsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The challenges of territorial representation at the supranational level: The case of French MEPs

Brack

Costa

2013

Fr Polit

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Even though the territorial dimension of the European representative mandate may be a key element for European Union's legitimization, it remains overlooked in academic literature. This article explores this statement by analysing the EP's French delegation, which includes several interesting features with regard to territorial representation. The article is structured around three research questions: how do French Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) deal with the territorial dimension of their mandate? Why are there some variations regarding focus of representation? To what extent does their focus of representation affect their role orientation? Relying on the results of 37 interviews with French MEPs using both closed and open-ended questions, we demonstrate that the MEPs develop a composite view of representation and display some variations in terms of focus of representation. Those variations are explained mostly through the actor's political orientations and socio-biographic characteristics. We also understand that the focus of representation has some effect on how French MEPs conceive their mandate.

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Modes of Political Representation: Toward a New Typology

Cited by 121 publications

References 18 publications

Candidates in 2013 Italian general election: evidence from the Italian Candidate Survey

Candidates in 2013 Italian general election: evidence from the Italian Candidate Survey

The Legitimacy of Representation: How Descriptive, Formal, and Responsiveness Representation Affect the Acceptability of Political Decisions

The challenges of territorial representation at the supranational level: The case of French MEPs

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