Studying at York
"We, the People": Ideas of Democratic Representation - POL00030H
- Department: Politics and International Relations
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: H
- Academic year of delivery: 2022-23
- See module specification for other years: 2023-24
Module will run
| Occurrence | Teaching period |
|---|---|
| A | Spring Term 2022-23 |
Module aims
Political representation lies at the core of modern politics. But the question of the nature and purpose of representative government, especially in its democratic form, remains far from settled. Is representative democracy a contradiction in terms? Is it a "defective substitute" for real democracy, a mere modern reinvention of the "mixed constitutions" of the past, combining both popular and elitist elements in what remains an unstable hybrid form that is showing signs of coming apart? Or does representative democracy constitute a new and possibly superior democratic form of its own? And, if so, what makes it distinctive? How do citizens achieve representation - through voting, through the groups, voluntary associations and movements that voice their claims, or through deliberative processes producing results with the hallmark of rationality and fairness? This module provides a broad exploration of these questions by drawing on the intellectual history of representative government, in both its democratic and non-democratic forms, as well as on the current "representative turn" of democratic political theory.
Module learning outcomes
By completing this module, students will
- Obtain a good understanding of the history, the role, the aims, the potentialities and limits of political representation in the context of democratic and non-democratic, state-bound and non-state politics;
- Examine the complexities surrounding the representation of different groups within the state and groups acting beyond it;
- Develop a good knowledge of recent developments in the theorization and in the conceptualization of political representation;
- Understand and critically assess the changing role of representation in democratic politics and the challenges these changes pose at both a normative and a practical level.
Indicative assessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Special assessment rules
None
Indicative reassessment
| Task | % of module mark |
|---|---|
| Essay/coursework | 100 |
Module feedback
Students will receive written timely feedback on their formative assessment. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their feedback during the module tutor’s feedback and guidance hours.
Students will receive written feedback on their summative assessment no later than 20 working days after submission; and the module tutor will hold a specific session to discuss feedback, which students can also opt to attend. They will also have the opportunity to discuss their feedback during the module tutor’s regular feedback and guidance hours.
Indicative reading
Monica Brito Vieira and David Runciman, Representation, Cambridge: Polity Press (2008).
Bernard Manin, The Principles of Modern Representative Government, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1997).
Hanna Fenichel Pitkin, The Concept of Representation, Berkeley: University of California Press (1967).
Nadia Urbinati, Representative Democracy: Principles and Genealogy, Chicago, Ill.: Chicago University Press (2006).
Adam Przeworski, Susan C. Strokes, and Bernard Manin (eds.), Democracy, Accountability and Representation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1999).