Conference on 'POLITICAL REPRESENTATION'

The problem of political representation in contemporary democracies and in the EU polity has been one of the major themes developed within the Network of Excellence CONNEX ("Connecting Excellence on European Governance"), funded by the European Union as a core part of Sixth Framework Programme of Research.

The objective of this conference is to confront different conceptions of political representation with each other, in particular with respect to their applicability to the system of multi-level governance in the European Union. Political representation is an essentially contested concept. Its meaning has evolved with the development of representative democracy, and normative theories of political representation often evolved as a reflection on developing practices rather than the other way around. It is therefore no surprise that the development of forms of multi-level governance, in the EU in particular, hardly meeting the requirements of classic theories of representative democracy, has led to the development of alternative theories of political representation.

One of the key questions with regard to the development of alternative theories and practices of political representation is how legitimate they are in light of normative theories of democracy. The main purpose of this conference is to discuss the feasibility and legitimacy of various theories and models of political representation in the context of the European Union.

Thematic Sections:

-Electoral democracy as a model of political representation
-Political representation and civil society
-Political representation, public opinion, and the public sphere: the role of the media
-Democratic governance without political representation?
-Representation in a multi-level political system: the lessons from federalism
-The European Parliament: One parliament, several models of political representation?