Representative Claim

Representation is more than a matter of elections and parties. This book offers a radical new perspective on the subject. Representation, it argues, is all around us, a dynamic practise across societies rather than simply a fixed feature of government. At the heart of the argument is the straightforward but versatile notion of the representative claim. People claim to speak or stand for others in multiple, shifting, and surprising patterns. At the same time theyoffer images of their constituents and audiences as artists paint portraits. Who can speak for and about us in this volatile world of representations? Which representative claims can have democratic legitimacy? The Representative Claim is set to transform our core assumptions about whatrepresentation is and can be. At a time when political representation is widely believed to be in crisis, the book provides a timely and critical corrective to conventional wisdom on the present and potential future of representative democracy.

This is a book I would recommend to every political theorist interested in the theory of representation. It provides an innovative and interesting account of representation., Saward succeeds in his attempt to expand the concept of representation beyond the standard interpretation of making present or standing for in a narrowly political sense ... the book should be accessible to advanced undergraduates and is essential for researchers. Summing Up: Highly recommended.

Michael Saward is Professor of Politics at the Open University. He has published a wide range of books and articles on the idea of democracy, new forms of representation, green political theory, British politics, and the changing structure of states. At the Open University he has led and participated in the making of a new generation of multi-media politics undergraduate courses, and has commented regularly in the broadcast media.