Read the summary and the most important questions on Political Representation and its challenges

• 1 Week 1

• 1.1 defining political representation: substantive, descriptive and constructivist perspectives

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• What is the paradox of representation according to Hannah Pitkin?

  Citizens take part in the political decision-making process, but they do not really participate

• What is formalistic representation?

  Electoral representation. It is about institutions that allow people to be elected and to be held accountable. The institutions enable representation

• What is substantive representation?

  The actions a representative takes to represent its constituents' interest

• What is descriptive representation?

  Whether the representative really resemblances the electorate.

• What is symbolic representation?

  What a representative symbolizes and how the represented feel about this

• What is prospective voting in electoral representation?

  A party's ideology and policy provide a basis for voters to know what to expect when you vote for that party and let it represent you. It is about what you want that your representative does for you

• What is retrospective voting in electoral representation?

  Voters can reward or punish parties and governments for their policy-making efforts. It is about whether or not your representative does what you expect him/her to do and hold him/her accountable for that

• What do Soroka and Wleziens (2010) say about representation in their article?

  It is about substantive representation and mainly about how the preferences of citizen's are represented. They use the thermostatic model as central concept, which indicates how well preferences are represented (it should be the right temperature). It is however about relative preferences because voters have no way of completely understanding the entire policy. It is about whether they want more or less policy

• What does Mansbridge (1999) say about representation in her article?

  It is about descriptive representation that is the best way to represent. Selective descriptive representation as the most important forms. Which is mainly achieved by drawing geographical lines and the reservation of seats. Shared experiences make descriptive representation possible. It is however important that it is about politically relevant shared experiences

• What are minoritized groups, as mentioned in Mansbridge (1999)?

  They are not minorities by number, but they are minorities made by others. They are a minority in terms of power they have.