Date: 2006
Type: Article
Representative democracy as tautology : Ankersmit and Lefort on representation
European journal of political theory, 2006, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 321-342
NÄSSTRÖM, Sofia, Representative democracy as tautology : Ankersmit and Lefort on representation, European journal of political theory, 2006, Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 321-342
- https://hdl.handle.net/1814/67832
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
Representative democracy is often assessed from the standpoint of direct democracy. Recently, however, many theorists have come to argue that representation forms a democratic model in its own right. The most powerful claim in this direction is to be found within two quite different strands of thinking: the aesthetic theory of Frank Ankersmit and the savage theory of Claude Lefort. In this article, I show that while Ankersmit and Lefort converge in their critique of direct rule, they provide us with two distinct models of democracy. Aesthetic democracy, I argue, in the end falls short as a democratic recuperation of representation. It reduces representation to delegation. Savage democracy proves more fruitful in this respect. It offers a representative view of politics without committing itself to the premises associated with political delegation.
Additional information:
First published online: 1 July 2006
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/67832
Full-text via DOI: 10.1177/1474885106064664
ISSN: 1474-8851; 1741-2730
Publisher: SAGE Publications
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