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

Arnesen, Sveinung; Peters, Yvette

doi:10.1177/0010414017720702

Cited by 82 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…In particular, excluding women and ethnic minorities from political representation places these groups outside the political order, conveying their lack of full citizenship (Celis and Mazur ). Those concerned with legislative inclusion argue that decisions made about groups, but in the absence of group representatives capable of articulating group interests, are fundamentally unjust and may undermine the legitimacy of otherwise democratic institutions (Arnesen and Peters ; Mansbridge ).…”

Section: The Symbolic Effects Of Women In Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

All Male Panels? Representation and Democratic Legitimacy

Clayton

O’Brien²,

Piscopo

2018

American J Political Sci

151

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What does women's presence in political decision-making bodies signal to citizens? Do these signals differ based on the body's policy decisions? And do women and men respond to women's presence similarly? Though scholars have demonstrated the substantive and symbolic benefits of women's representation, little work has examined how women's presence affects citizens' perceptions of democratic legitimacy. We test the relationship between representation and legitimacy beliefs through survey experiments on a nationally representative sample of U.S. citizens. First, we find that women's equal presence legitimizes decisions that go against women's interests. We show suggestive evidence that this effect is particularly pronounced among men, who tend to hold less certain views on women's rights. Second, across decision outcomes and issue areas, women's equal presence legitimizes decision-making processes and confers institutional trust and acquiescence. These findings add new theoretical insights into how, when, and for whom inclusive representation increases perceptions of democratic legitimacy.experiences, suggests that women's presence can affect how citizens view policy decisions and the institutions and processes that guide them. The backlash against all-male panels thus raises a central question for the study of democratic politics: Does the inclusion of representatives from historically underrepresented groups (typically called descriptive representation) legitimize decisions and decisionmaking procedures in the eyes of the general public? Democratic theorists argue that legislative outcomes, processes, and institutions cannot be legitimate when certain social groups remain systematically excluded from elected office (Dovi 2007;Mansbridge 1999;Phillips 1995). Despite these strong normative expectations, most research on symbolic representation-that is, the link

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Section: The Symbolic Effects Of Women In Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

All Male Panels? Representation and Democratic Legitimacy

Clayton

O’Brien²,

Piscopo

2018

American J Political Sci

151

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“…The key objective of this study was to investigate whether and to what extent ADM systems in policymaking influence public perceptions of EU input, throughput, and output legitimacy. Previous empirical studies have suggested that different decision-making arrangements (e.g., formal versus descriptive representation, direct voting versus deliberation) can differ significantly in terms of their perceived legitimacy (Esaiasson et al, 2012;Persson et al, 2013;Arnesen and Peters, 2018;Arnesen et al, 2019). However, as those studies did not specifically investigate the potential effects of ADM systems, the present study sought to distinguish between three different decision-making arrangements: (a) independent decision-making by EU politicians (HDM); (b) independent decision-making by ADM systems (ADM); and (c) HyDM by politicians, based on suggestions made by ADM systems.…”

Section: Hypothesesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Artificial intelligence for political decision-making in the European Union: Effects on citizens’ perceptions of input, throughput, and output legitimacy

Starke

Lünich

2020

Data & Policy

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A lack of political legitimacy undermines the ability of the European Union (EU) to resolve major crises and threatens the stability of the system as a whole. By integrating digital data into political processes, the EU seeks to base decision-making increasingly on sound empirical evidence. In particular, artificial intelligence (AI) systems have the potential to increase political legitimacy by identifying pressing societal issues, forecasting potential policy outcomes, and evaluating policy effectiveness. This paper investigates how citizens’ perceptions of EU input, throughput, and output legitimacy are influenced by three distinct decision-making arrangements: (a) independent human decision-making by EU politicians; (b) independent algorithmic decision-making (ADM) by AI-based systems; and (c) hybrid decision-making (HyDM) by EU politicians and AI-based systems together. The results of a preregistered online experiment (n = 572) suggest that existing EU decision-making arrangements are still perceived as the most participatory and accessible for citizens (input legitimacy). However, regarding the decision-making process itself (throughput legitimacy) and its policy outcomes (output legitimacy), no difference was observed between the status quo and HyDM. Respondents tend to perceive ADM systems as the sole decision-maker to be illegitimate. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for (a) EU legitimacy and (b) data-driven policy-making and outlines (c) avenues for future research.

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“…By arguing that representation includes both a "making present" and an "acting for, " Pitkin (1967) suggests that it does not matter greatly who represents, as long as the ideas and preferences are represented. Representation in her view is not about the representative, for example, being a woman, but rather about the representative capturing relatively accurately whatever ideas and preferences the women constituent has that relate to policies (Arnesen and Peters 2018).…”

Section: Theoretical Framework Theory Of Political Representationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women Representation and Policy Outputs in Ghana And Liberia

2020

JAAS

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Women representation and gender equality have been in the front burner of global political discourse for some decades, with several scholars linking the level of women representation to women empowerment and attainment of national development. However, the level of women representation in Ghana and Liberia remains low. The study investigated the effect of women representation on social welfare and women empowerment in the two West African countries. Survey design was employed in the study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in data analysis. The study found that women representation had a positive significant effect on policy outputs in social welfare and women empowerment in Ghana and Liberia, F(1, 677)=4.435, Adj. R 2 =.705, p<0.05. Women representatives in Ghana and Liberia facilitated policy outputs in social welfare and women empowerment sectors. There is need for adoption of quotas that would facilitate election of more female representatives into the National Legislatures of both countries.

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

Cited by 82 publications

References 56 publications

All Male Panels? Representation and Democratic Legitimacy

All Male Panels? Representation and Democratic Legitimacy

Artificial intelligence for political decision-making in the European Union: Effects on citizens’ perceptions of input, throughput, and output legitimacy

Women Representation and Policy Outputs in Ghana And Liberia

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