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Citizens as Representatives: Bridging the Democratic Theory Divides
Author(s) -
Stephan Mark
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
politics and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.259
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1747-1346
pISSN - 1555-5623
DOI - 10.1111/j.1747-1346.2004.tb00178.x
Subject(s) - normative , democracy , bureaucracy , deliberative democracy , political science , representative democracy , public administration , bridging (networking) , representation (politics) , democratic theory , civil servants , law and economics , bridge (graph theory) , sociology , epistemology , law , politics , computer science , computer network , philosophy , medicine
Normative theory about the nature of democracy is divided into multiple perspectives. One way to bridge these divides is to address a related puzzle: making sense of the role of citizens who are directly involved in policymaking and policy implementation. Using Hanna Pitkin's language of representation, I argue that active citizens can serve as “representatives,” and that such an understanding serves as an empirical link that bridges the normative divides between representative and direct democracy and between aggregative and deliberative forms of democracy. To illustrate this point, I include a description of citizen involvement in bureaucratic decision making. The example gives us insights into the appropriate role of citizen representatives and of the responsiveness of civil servants.