Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

The Politics of Voter Presence

Malkopoulou, Anthoula LU orcid and Hill, Lisa (2022) In International Political Science Review 43(2). p.157-172
Abstract
By focusing only on the composition of representative bodies, the traditional ‘politics of presence’ approach has inadvertently diminished the value of participation for representation. It overlooks that there exist ‘elite voters’ who reinforce discrimination against abstainers at the policy level and create obstacles for improving the lives of the marginalized. We offer a remedy to persisting patterns of political exclusion by arguing in favour of a ‘politics of presence’ at the polls. This requires high and socially diverse turnout that will make representation more inclusive, broader and qualitatively different; it will be more descriptive, not of group characteristics, but of the interests, opinions and ideas of voters. Our alternative... (More)
By focusing only on the composition of representative bodies, the traditional ‘politics of presence’ approach has inadvertently diminished the value of participation for representation. It overlooks that there exist ‘elite voters’ who reinforce discrimination against abstainers at the policy level and create obstacles for improving the lives of the marginalized. We offer a remedy to persisting patterns of political exclusion by arguing in favour of a ‘politics of presence’ at the polls. This requires high and socially diverse turnout that will make representation more inclusive, broader and qualitatively different; it will be more descriptive, not of group characteristics, but of the interests, opinions and ideas of voters. Our alternative is a fusion of descriptive and substantive representation: ‘descriptive responsiveness’.
(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
descriptive representation, voter turnout, the politics of presence, descriptive responsiveness, voting rules
in
International Political Science Review
volume
43
issue
2
pages
16 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85085877275
ISSN
0192-5121
DOI
10.1177/0192512120922902
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6448ddac-2816-43b3-b436-234c4ea5ba05
date added to LUP
2020-03-23 16:29:27
date last changed
2022-04-03 01:16:20
@article{6448ddac-2816-43b3-b436-234c4ea5ba05,
  abstract     = {{By focusing only on the composition of representative bodies, the traditional ‘politics of presence’ approach has inadvertently diminished the value of participation for representation. It overlooks that there exist ‘elite voters’ who reinforce discrimination against abstainers at the policy level and create obstacles for improving the lives of the marginalized. We offer a remedy to persisting patterns of political exclusion by arguing in favour of a ‘politics of presence’ at the polls. This requires high and socially diverse turnout that will make representation more inclusive, broader and qualitatively different; it will be more descriptive, not of group characteristics, but of the interests, opinions and ideas of voters. Our alternative is a fusion of descriptive and substantive representation: ‘descriptive responsiveness’.<br/>}},
  author       = {{Malkopoulou, Anthoula and Hill, Lisa}},
  issn         = {{0192-5121}},
  keywords     = {{descriptive representation; voter turnout; the politics of presence; descriptive responsiveness; voting rules}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{157--172}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{International Political Science Review}},
  title        = {{The Politics of Voter Presence}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0192512120922902}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/0192512120922902}},
  volume       = {{43}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}