Configuring representative politics: A cross-sectional perspective

Abstract

The premise of this paper is that rethinking the concept of political representation is a necessary endeavor to understand the challenges that democratic politics is facing. The purpose is to show that political representation is constituted by process of authorization and accountability where political debates and public deliberation perform an influential role. In that sense, representative relationships can contribute to the promotion of the democratic norms of inclusion and participation. It is expected that this approach will contribute to analyze the construction of representative claims and discourses, and help bridge the study of electoral and non-electoral mechanisms of representation.