Democratic Listening: Designing its Performance

In our 2020 book, Feminist Democratic Representation, we re-made the case for women’s group representation in politics, by imagining representation as it should be. In this, voice and the reception of new voices was foregrounded, notably through a re-design of parliamentary processes involving a new set of representatives (the affected representatives of women) and two institutional augmentations (group advocacy and account giving moments). The critical importance of voice must however be matched by attention to questions of democratic listening, which relative to voice has been under-theorized to-date. The democratic functions of listening in political representation go beyond the commonly understood notion of ‘knowing’ the interests of the represented and identifying ways to reconcile multiple and at times competing interests (Pitkin, 1967). Adopting a performance lens, we offer in this paper a close re-reading of FDR’s new twin moments, interrogating the principles and practices of democratic listening envisioned therein. We are interested first, in what elected representatives do as they listen to (representatives of) women - the who and what of performance. Secondly, we explore the work that is done by elected representatives as they listen - the how of performing. Thirdly, we reflect on performativity, how elected representatives’ listening acts mediate and constitute the quality of representation and representative relationships – the effects, affects, and outcomes for the represented, and other audiences. With good listening shown to be in operation those who fail to realize their interests or feel poorly served at one time may still feel connected to their elected representatives and political institutions as a consequence of that good listening. Designing for democratic listening seems to us, then, to be key for those wishing to strengthen the authority, effectiveness, and legitimacy of representative institutions, and to push back the tide of democratic backsliding. Crucially, our discussion of the performance of democratic listening in this paper shows that it can be designed for.