From Indirect to Direct Representation

Abstract

In the first two chapters we have identified fundamental weaknesses in contemporary democracy: the lack of a political culture in which citizens can deliberate effectively and the presence of mass media which undermines public trust in politics per se. These two profoundly disturbing tendencies contribute to a third aspect of democratic dysfunction: a pervasive sense of disconnection between most elected representatives (politicians) and most represented citizens. As one former Leader of the U.K. House of Commons has astutely observed: The public today is worryingly inclined to see politics as something, which belongs to a political class, rather than a process which is rooted in decisions by the public themselves. The most common complaint of the public is that politicians as a class do not listen to what the public want, which is curious as there has never been a time when the major political parties have spent more effort on trying to find out what the public thinks. (Cook 2002) In theory, political representatives are supposed to speak for the people they represent. ‘Speaking for’ becomes necessary when citizens are physically, culturally or cognitively removed from the locus of public decision-making and their interests, preferences and values have to be expressed via an aggregating intermediary.