Issues Of Political Representation Research Articles

Representation in a context across political orders and the Chinese case

This paper sheds light on the issue of political representation in an authoritarian context, taking China as a case study. In the academic literature, the concept of political representation is primarily related to mechanisms of representation in a democratic setting, used in a rather technical or normative sense and concerned with institutionalized representation in legislatures and parliaments, with a strong focus on elections by which citizens express their political will. The conviction prevails that only persons elected in a competitive electoral procedure can be conceived as legitimate representatives. Widely lacking in the scholarly literature are approaches which explain the nature of political representation in a non-democratic setting. To date, patterns of formal and informal representation in an authoritarian context constitute a ‘black hole’ in the literature on representation. This article tries to answer two research questions: (1) How does representation in an authoritarian system work? (2) What can we conclude from the Chinese case with regard to representation in an authoritarian setting? The article first conceptualizes representation in an authoritarian setting. Second, it examines which mechanisms of representation and representative claims exist in China. Third, it distinguishes between five mechanisms of political representation: formal, informal, symbolic, traditional and digital. It is argued that informal patterns of representation are crucial since formal ones are more strictly controlled. A new and specific role is played by ‘digital representation’: a vigorous form of representation via the cyberspace, spawning new and innovative modes of formal, informal and symbolic political representation. In the conclusions, the author considers what his findings regarding the Chinese case mean for the concept of representation in authoritarian states. He also explains why representation in an autocratic context can produce political output and exhibit legitimacy among the represented.

Intervention of social work in political participation of women in forming process of neighborhood councils of canton portoviejo

With globalization, it has become evident that there are still differences in women's participation in political development, despite the process of change, equality and equity implemented for several years, the greater participation of men in relation to the woman, have been excluded in some spaces within society for a long time. The political participation of women continues to be a great challenge in Ecuador's contemporary society. The processes carried out have not achieved the inclusion of women in the issues of political representation. As a whole, the causes may be ignorance, omission, and of course this machismo that predominate even on the subject; without leaving of side the little processes of investigation on the subject, that are sporadic, and more in the subject of the considered policy only for the masculine gender. The current challenge is the empowerment, education, preparation and training of both men and women on the issue of equality, inclusion and social participation of all in the different mutual areas with emphasis on the political, economic and social aspects of development and well-being of people, guaranteed in the Constitution of Ecuador and the objectives of Good Living.

Violence and post-hegemony - Theorising affective resonances between voice and habit memory

The prevailing accounts of voice within cultural studies often centre on issues of political representation and authority, bypassing the material aspects of voice and ensuing political effects thereof. By analysing a violent incident during a hip hop concert in Poland, this paper attempts to provide a post-hegemonic account of the politics of voice. It traces the circulation of sonic intensities comprising the event – including the sonority of voice, its electric amplification and the rhythmic organisation of verbal interactions – arguing that they directly modulated the behaviour patterns of the audience via affective transmission. Furthermore, the concept of habit memory is employed to indicate the limits of contagion. The paper thus rereads the outbreak of violence in terms of resonances that occur beneath the level of discourse, immanently restructuring the encounters between bodies.

Political Representation, Imperial Dependency and Political Transfer: Finland and Sweden 1809–1819

Political Representation, Imperial Dependency and Political Transfer: Finland and Sweden 1809–1819 The article examines the post-revolutionary rearrangement in Europe by focusing on the separation of Finland from Sweden. In 1809, the eastern part of the Swedish kingdom became a grand duchy within the autocratically ruled Russian empire. Both Finland and Sweden experienced the constitutional moment which characterised the post-revolutionary and post-Napoleonic Europe, but in very different ways. The Swedish Diet enacted a new written constitution while the Finnish Diet gave its oath to the new emperor, who promised to maintain the laws, privileges and rights of the country. Alexander I might have used the word «constitution» in his speech to the Finnish Estates, but the political status of the grand duchy remained unclear, and it was only in 1863 that the Finnish Diet was called to convene again. In the context of imperial dependency and a lack of established forums for public debate, the article analyses how the issue of political representation was made public in Finland during the first decade of Russian rule. The analysis is based on the ways in which the official newspaper described the new political situation of Finland and reported on political circumstances and parliamentary life in other countries. It is argued that the publication of news from abroad can be seen as an important way of keeping the issue of political representation alive in Finland. It was also a channel for the reception of political concepts. The study discusses the Finnish case in relation to political circumstances in Sweden. The comparative angle draws attention to complex features of the formation of a new polity and a reformation of an old.

The Utopian Promise: John Akomfrah’s Poetics of the Archive

John Akomfrah’s Handsworth Songs (1986) and The Stuart Hall Project (2012) bookend the British filmmaker’s career in a uniquely political sense. Both are implicitly concerned with the film archive, with the potential it accorded for poetic and political ends. Stuart Hall famously responded to the criticism of Handsworth Songs by Salman Rushdie at the time of the film’s release, championing the Black Audio Film Collective, which Akomfrah was a founding member of, in their attempts to forge a new cinematic language to represent post-migrant minorities. Akomfrah’s method, in both films, is interesting in this regard; using archival footage, it constructs a collage-based film used to challenge hegemonic constructions of sound and image with regard to political representation in film. This article addresses this method. It takes the ‘utopian promise’, which Akomfrah associates with the archive, as a starting point to explore the theoretical alignment between the archival image and the future. As a result, the article pushes against responses to Akomfrah films that have sought to situate their content as exclusively concerned with issues of political representation in the present, exploring an Akomfrah poetics that comes out of a utopian tradition of thought concerned with thinking about the future; or at least, the possibilities of the future.

The Legal Culture of Political Representation: Evolution and Balance of Its Current Situation Within Democracies

This work studies the issue of political representation from the perspective of a specific legal culture, the exercise of political rights in the context of the occidental democratic system, a concept that has undergone a profound evolution to the present day. The essential aspects for an analysis of this progression are voting, decision making, and the relationship between representatives and their constituents. Overall, the phenomena making up the crisis of representation have been explained as a result of changes that have affected the operation and structure of modern states constituted as representative democracies. The idea is that a well-functioning representative system comes primarily from the form of government and electoral system in which it develops.

Latin Women Take the Helm

Latin Women Take the Helm

The Meaning and Scope of Temporary Special Measures in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women

Equality of treatment and opportunity between men and women has always been a demand made by liberal feminism. This idea of equality was supported by world community, though after much struggle, and came to be recognized as a fundamental value, which has now achieved status of customary international law. Through this project, researcher has argued that this idea of equality has remained unrealized to a larger extent because of its emphasis on a gender-neutral approach, which overlooks the history of gender discrimination. In light of this argument, researcher has examined the scope and meaning of article 4 i.e. special and temporary measures under CEDAW which emphasizes more upon ‘real equality’. In the process, issue of political representation of women has discussed, gauging the effect of gender quota implemented in some countries.

Minority Voting Issues

The purpose of this article is to present an analysis of how electoral law has affected minority group efforts to participate in the electoral process. The focus is on those factors that have played a critical role in obstructing minority enfranchisement. The literature reviewed suggest a number of factors that affect political participation, including social networks, education, income, employment status, and region of residence. The existing research suggests that the pursuit of equality in voting participation needs to be undertaken not only from the social and political levels but also from the institutional level. The issue of political equality cannot be addressed before the hurdle of minority enfranchisement is fully understood and resolved. Only then can we comprehend other challenging issues of political representation and coalition building across minority groups or between majority and minority groups in all areas of social policy, including education. Today, the hard-won gains of minorities are in danger of being extinguished.