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On political representation

On political representation
On political representation
An essential feature of political representation is that a mediating assembly is set between the citizenry and political decision making. Representation involves indirect decision making or agency. Rational actor political theory often assumes representation in order to focus on problems of a principal–agent kind, but offers only relatively weak arguments for representation. We offer an alternative argument for representation that builds on our broader interpretation of rational actor political theory – an interpretation that emphasizes expressive considerations relative to instrumental considerations, and operates in a richer motivational setting. As well as providing an account of representation, we believe that our approach is capable of re-connecting rational actor political theory to many of the concerns of more traditional political theory.
0007-1234
109-127
Brennan, Geoffrey
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Hamlin, Alan P.
1ad15042-646f-4e0e-9ed3-1239fe2d61e3
Brennan, Geoffrey
f5def8d6-7caf-4304-80a6-9ca276ee91b6
Hamlin, Alan P.
1ad15042-646f-4e0e-9ed3-1239fe2d61e3

Brennan, Geoffrey and Hamlin, Alan P. (1999) On political representation. British Journal of Political Science, 29 (1), 109-127. (doi:10.1017/S0007123499000058).

Record type: Article

Abstract

An essential feature of political representation is that a mediating assembly is set between the citizenry and political decision making. Representation involves indirect decision making or agency. Rational actor political theory often assumes representation in order to focus on problems of a principal–agent kind, but offers only relatively weak arguments for representation. We offer an alternative argument for representation that builds on our broader interpretation of rational actor political theory – an interpretation that emphasizes expressive considerations relative to instrumental considerations, and operates in a richer motivational setting. As well as providing an account of representation, we believe that our approach is capable of re-connecting rational actor political theory to many of the concerns of more traditional political theory.

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Published date: 1999

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 32946
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/32946
ISSN: 0007-1234
PURE UUID: 22a4d7ec-cdc2-4178-8b78-87ade4ab8cf8

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Date deposited: 26 Jul 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 07:40

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Contributors

Author: Geoffrey Brennan
Author: Alan P. Hamlin

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