Performing Political Representation

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Political representation – electoral and otherwise – is at the heart of the theory and practice of modern and contemporary democracy. To cite the terms of the conference theme, many observers claim that the retrenchment of democracy today centres on the disfunctions of representation. Ideas of renovation and reimagination of democracy cannot gain traction without featuring representation. Working with broadly constructivist approaches to representation (Saward 2010; Disch 2021), this panel features cutting-edge work on the need to grasp that – and how – performance is central to representation today. It examines bodies and embodiment and how new sites of performing representation – from social media to ‘squares’ – must be reckoned with. And it asks the crucial question of when performances of representation are democratic.
Conventionally, political representation is often analysed in terms of the exchange of rational arguments between the represented and the representative, especially at election time, and decision making by representatives. This view highlights the preferences and interests of constituents, and the extent to which representatives are guided by them or are responsive to them.
However, there is much about political representation that this approach leaves aside. Representation also involves a range of symbolic actions that work expressively, theatrically, emotionally, and performatively. Its performative elements are implicated in the effectiveness of claims to represent, how the representation is framed, and in the very constitution of identities of representatives and constituents. The role of performances and the importance of performativity for modern democracy is crucial. Borrowed from the vocabulary of the theatre, performance is more than a metaphor (Reinelt and Rai 2017); it describes a critical element of political representation. Performances are acts that can affect the way people see (and think about) politics. Claims to represent are performative in the sense that they can constitute and transform the way people conceive democratic norms and institutions and imagine their role as citizens and representatives. Performativity is this capacity of affecting political imagination; it can change political expectations, behaviour, and rules.
In modern democracy, perception and expectations of democratic performance are closely connected to the cultural and historical context and are embedded in normative standards. Modern democracies rest – at least in theory - on strong normative principles such as equality, freedom, human rights, and, of course, popular sovereignty that guide behaviour, laws, and political representation. Through its complex histories, democracy has generated symbols to represent these principles, such as citing the people as the author or the source of power in the constitution and visualizing equality and freedom through allegories or in sculptures. Democracy also dedicates spaces to honour the people and democratic rules, from open designs of some public buildings to urban gathering places. Modern democracy establishes a new relationship between political representatives and their constituents in new techniques and media of political communication, creating in turn new forms of political performance.
Although political science and history dedicated much attention to democratic representation, its performances are still neglected in empirical and theoretical studies on democracy. This is surprising since representation is and always has been deeply performative. On the one hand, it affects the perception of political reality in society and therefore the way society shapes itself. On the other hand, political representation is dependent on the symbolism of performances such as rituals, protests, on the staging of the representatives, etc. Political performances mobilize the physical body of the representative and sometimes the bodies of the audience. They involve aesthetics and take place in spaces that are variably physical, virtual or mediated. Focusing respectively on democratic performance, the settings and challenges for performing representation, and on the performative dynamics of representative-represented/citizen encounters, the panel’s presentations draw on rich examples to focus sharply on the importance and contexts of performing political representation, including attention to the frameworks for analysing performance in political life.

Sub Unit

• Division 2: Foundations of Political Theory

Individual Presentations

• Testing the Limits of Democratic Performance: Macron’s “Jupiterian” Temptation - Paula Diehl, University of Kiel

• Performing in the Representative Archive - Hannah Oorts, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

• Presence, Power, and Performing Political Representation - Michael Saward, University of Warwick

• The Constructivist Turn in Political Representation: The Question of Legitimacy - Joshua Stom

Chair

• Lisa J. Disch University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Discussant

• Samuel Hayat Sciences Po