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Centripetal Representation

Lookup NU author(s): Daniel Hutton FerrisORCiD

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This is the authors' accepted manuscript of an article that has been published in its final definitive form by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc., 2024.

For re-use rights please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.


Abstract

This article develops a general theory about how representative systems might best promote democratic legitimacy – one that recognizes the potential benefits of networked responsiveness between diverse kinds of representative but is alert to the threat of fragmentation and the value of democratic simplicity. Deliberative democratic and constructivist theorists of representation tend to agree that more pluralistic systems of representation are more democratic. I will argue, however, that fragmentation can bias responsiveness toward elites and that democratic simplifications can help ordinary people engage with, understand, and influence their representatives, pushing back against gridlock, collusion, and capture by the powerful. Systems of representation are most likely to capture the benefits of pluralism and heterogeneity while avoiding fragmentation when their structure is “centripetal”: with power and influence moving inwards, via processes of networked responsiveness, from broadly inclusive peripheries to democratically simple cores.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Hutton Ferris D

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: American Journal of Political Science

Year: 2024

Volume: 68

Issue: 2

Pages: 445-458

Print publication date: 01/04/2024

Online publication date: 24/08/2022

Acceptance date: 01/05/2021

Date deposited: 04/05/2023

ISSN (print): 0092-5853

ISSN (electronic): 1540-5907

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12726

DOI: 10.1111/ajps.12726

ePrints DOI: 0


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