(New) Claims of Representation

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.