Zusammenfassung der Ressource
(2) Effectiveness
of representation
- Trusteeship
- Strengths
- Traditional form of representation
- Trustees should act on behalf of other, using their
superior knoloedge, better education or greater
experience - called Burkean repersenation
- Representative should think for themselves
and use their own judgment because the
mass people may not know their best interest
- Criticisms
- Allowing politicians to think for themselves
creates "gap" between the view of ordinary
citizens and the view of their representatives
- Gap could be filled by either by a shortening of
electoral terms or by the introduction of recall elections
- The trusteeship model is largely out of date - development
of party system in the 1800, scope for mp's to think is
limited - free votes, back bench revolts
- The doctrine of the mandate
- strengths
- It is the most influential theory of
representation in modern politics
- The winning party has a
"popular" mandate of authority
to carry out the polices
- These policy are contained in election
manifestos - the party carries out representation
- This provides a clear class of
party unity and party discipline
- Politicians serve their constituents not by thinking for
themselves, by remaining loyal to their and its polices
- Mandate democracy
- The strengh of the mandate doctrine is that it
takes account of the undoubted importance in
modern politics of party labels and party policises
- In UK elections voters on most occasions vote
for a party and give little or no attention to the
strengths or weakness of individual candidates
- Criticisms
- it is based on a highly questionable
model of voting behaviour
- Little evidence voters vote
rationally, basis on there manifesto
- Voting for a party does not mean
support for its entire manifesto
- No many of forcing government
to carry out their manifesto
- "Votting winning" policies that prove
to be difficult to implement in practice
- who the mandate falls to: the
party or the prime minister
- There are a growing tendency for PM to claim a "personal
mandate", on the basis of their role in leading the party to power
- Idea of a personal mandate may simply
allow PM to act however they wish
- Formantion of the coalition governemnt means the doctrine of the mandate may
become unworkable, as post-election deals are negotiated between coaltion
partners, through which each party abandons certian manifesto promies
- Descriptive
representation
- Stengths
- Descriptive representation is basd on the idea that representatives
should typify or resemble the group they claim to represent
- This notion is embodies in the idea of a "representative
cross-section", as used by market researched and opinion pollsters
- Represnatives government would constitue a microcsm of the
larger society, containing members drawn from all group and
sections in society, and the numbers are proportinal to society
- Significan concern with "under-representaion"
of groups such as women..
- The basis for this kind of represnetation is that it is neccesary
for people to share the experiences of a particular group in
order to be fully able to identify with its interests
- They must have
"walked in their shoes"
- criticisms
- If all representatives simply express the interests of the groups,
represntation becomes exclusive or narow, with no one being able
to defend the common good or advance a broader public interest
- A government that is a microcosm of
society would reflect that society's
weaknesses as well its strengths
- Majority of population could be apathetic,
ill-informed or poorly educated
- It is difficult to see how charateristic represnetation
can be reconiled with electoral choice
- Labour party's attempt to boost female represnetation in Parliament
through all-women shortlists of parliamentary candidates was
declared to be illegal under equal oppotunities legislation