The idea that unelected political figures may act as democratic representatives is an unusual and controversial feature of contemporary political life – and in contemporary democratic theory. After elaborating a framework for assessing the democratic status of potential cases of non-elective representation, this paper confronts the challenge of equality: if equality remains crucial to democracy, how can it be enacted in cases where the formal equality of equal votes is partly or wholly absent? Drawing on a range of examples across national and other contexts, the paper will interrogate this issue via a close examination of the formation of constituencies and audiences through effective representative claim-making, focusing on the powers of, and the relations between, members of both.
