Political representation

Political representation is the activity of acting, speaking, or deciding politically on behalf of others. It connects people to institutions through elected delegates, appointed officials, or other forms of political agency.

Authorization: Authorization is the granting of recognized power to act on another person’s or group’s behalf. It explains how representatives gain a mandate to act for constituents.
Representation: Representation is the act of standing for, depicting, or acting on behalf of someone or something. Political representation is one form of this broader relationship.
Representative democracy: Representative democracy is a system in which people choose officials to make political decisions on their behalf. It is the institutional form most commonly associated with elected representation.
Political alienation: Political alienation is a sense of estrangement from political institutions, processes, or collective decision-making. People who see institutions as unresponsive may feel excluded from representation.
Edmund Burke: Edmund Burke was an eighteenth-century British statesman and political thinker associated with the trustee view of representation. His Bristol speech defended representatives’ independent judgment over binding instructions.
Accountability: Accountability is the obligation to explain conduct and face consequences for decisions or failures. It gives constituents a way to judge representatives and impose consequences.
Political participation: Political participation is activity intended to influence government, public policy, or political outcomes. Participation supplies demands and involvement that representation may channel into institutions.
Direct democracy: Direct democracy is a system in which citizens decide political questions themselves rather than through elected representatives. It offers a contrasting route from public preference to political decisions.
Descriptive representation of women: Descriptive representation of women is the presence of women among elected or appointed political representatives. It makes gender inclusion visible as a question of who occupies political office.
Hanna Pitkin: Hanna Pitkin is an American political theorist known for her analysis of the concept of representation. Her framework distinguishes formal, symbolic, descriptive, and substantive representation.

Linked from 40 pages