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ByAnne Phillips

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“Tis the good reader that makes the good book.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

Synopsis

Provides a ground-breaking contribution to the widespread and controversial debate about how disadvantaged groups should be represented in politics. - ;One of the most hotly-debated debates in contemporary democracy revolves around issues of political presence, and whether the fair representation of disadvantage groups requires their presence in elected assemblies. Representation as currently understood derives its legitimacy from a politics of ideas, which considers accountability in relation to declared policies and programmes, and makes it a matter of relative indifference who articulates political preferences or beliefs. What happens to the meaning of representation and accountability when we make the gender or ethnic composition of elected assemblies an additional area of concern? In this innovative contribution to the theory of representation - which draws on debates about gender quotas in Europe, minority voting rights in the USA, and the multi-layered politics of inclusion in Canada - Anne Phillips argues that the politics of ideas is an inadequate vehicle for dealing with political exclusion. But eschewing any essentialist grounding the group identity or group interest, she also argues against any either/or choice between ideas and political presence. The politics of presence then combines with contemporary explorations of deliberative democracy to establish a different balance between accountability and autonomy. -