Descriptive Representation Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Representation has many meanings, including acting on the instructions of the represented (delegate), acting in the interests of the represented (trustee), acting as the personal agent of the represented (attorney or ombudsman), and so forth. These roles primarily refer to an individual representative. While they are also relevant to the idea of representation by a legislative body as a whole, attention to representative assemblies also allows consideration of a sense of representation that only makes sense with many representatives. In Johns Adams’s famous terms, the “representative assembly should be in miniature an exact portrait of the people at large,” or according to James Wilson, “the legislature ought to be the most exact transcript of the whole society, the faithful echo of the voices of the people.”

Although the idea of representation as mirroring appears to be self-evidently desirable, it has its detractors, who observe that it may shift the locus of decision regarding policy compromises and coalition strategy from the voters to the representatives, and may allow members of legislatures to act in ways that are opposed by large numbers of citizens while still claiming to be representative because literally on the surface they “look like” the people as a whole. In part, the seriousness of this problem depends on how “mirroring” is understood, as indicated by the contrast between the quotations from Adams and Wilson.

In Wilson’s terms, mirroring appears to require an accurate reflection of the political opinions (“the voices”) of the people. In this case, one might reasonably expect representatives to make the same decisions as the people would have made themselves. The Adams formulation, and modern attention to “descriptive representation,” focuses on the degree to which the assembly looks like the people (“an exact portrait”) with regard to such characteristics as race and gender and perhaps also age, social class, religion, language, or other characteristics. Given the diversity of opinions within demographic groups, here it is less clear that representation-as-mirroring will lead to the same decisions as would have been made by the whole people themselves.

In contemporary debates, support for demographic representation is generally based on two arguments. On one hand, it is seen to symbolize full and equal citizenship for the groups represented; implicit in this is a direct link between interest or opinion and group membership, and the idea that decisions will be made on the basis of competition in which power (reflected in the number of legislative votes) will be decisive. On the other hand, descriptive representative may be supported on the theory that there is something about the lived experiences of women or minorities that can only be represented by members of those groups themselves; implicit here is the idea that decisions will be made in the common interest based on the interplay of ideas, so that an effective voice is more important that a strictly proportional voice.

Whichever rationale is accepted, however, at least three questions remain to be answered. First, what groups are to be represented? On the one hand, this means specifying the dimensions of difference to be taken into account. In racially or linguistically divided societies, these categories almost always are considered relevant, as increasingly is gender. But what about age or social class (the latter having been widely considered relevant in the early decades of the twentieth century, but much less so in the twenty-first)? Moreover, are dimensions such as race and gender to be considered independently (i.e., black versus white and male versus female) or must they be considered jointly (black male versus black female versus white male versus white female)? Second, does demographic representation require proportionality (as suggested by the argument concerning equal citizenship and the term mirroring), or does it require adequacy (as suggested by the “politics of presence”), even if this means that some small groups would require more than their proportionate share of the representatives?

The third question is how, institutionally, demographic representation can be furthered or assured. Most directly, this can be done through the use of reserved seats (e.g., for Maori in New Zealand or “scheduled castes and tribes” in India) or quotas for nominations, whether applied in law (e.g., Belgium or France) or by internal party decision (e.g., Sweden). In closed list proportional representation systems, not only is the number of “minority” nominees crucial but also their placement on their party’s list. With regard to women, some quota systems go beyond simple proportions, instead requiring “zippering”—the alternation of men and women on the list.

Beyond these “direct actions,” the choice of electoral system more generally can have an impact on the degree of demographic representation. This impact, however, depends on the kind of group involved. Provided that the parties decide that they want demographic representation, closed lists are more effective than open lists; if parties are merely paying lip service to representation, however, open lists may be superior. Having large legislative districts with many representatives for each is generally conducive to representativeness, because it allows parties to present more “balanced” lists, but if a minority is geographically concentrated, single member districts may be advantageous.

Bibliography:

Krook, Mona Lena. Quotas for Women in Politics: Gender and Candidate Selection Reform Worldwide. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Kymlicka,Will. “Group Representation in Canadian Politics.” In Equity and Community: The Charter, Interest Advocacy, and Representation, edited by F. Leslie Seidle, 61–90. Montreal: Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1993.
Phillips, Anne. The Politics of Presence. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.
Pitkin, Hanna Fenichel. The Concept of Representation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967.