The system of electoral democracy is under considerable strain around the world. Political parties and elected representatives are failing to keep their monopoly on (formal) representation. Symptoms of this process – e.g. decreasing party affiliation – are considered as distinctive challenges to existing democracies. Representative democracy as we know today is most likely not the end of history. A multitude of claim-makers generates a multitude of representative claims and critiques of misrepresentation. It is no longer evident who speaks for whom and why s/he is entitled to do so. A new conceptual and analytical frame is necessary to conceptualize, to capture and to compare these claims of representation nationally as well as globally.
