The improper politics of representation
The improper politics of representation
This chapter takes issue with the renewed justification and theorisation of representative democracy associated with the constructivist turn, to reframe debates concerning the relationship between representation, property and civil society. Drawing on a set of older debates about democracy, property and representation the chapter contends that theorists such as Nadia Urbinati and Lisa Disch do not adequately account for existing forms of inequality, structured around property and wealth. The chapter defends a principle of democratic representation as improper in respect of existing orders of property and propriety, as against constructivist accounts that too quickly forget constituted representative interests so as to focus on the coming into being of new claims (e.g. Michael Saward). By contrast to the procedural justification of representative democracy defended most coherently by Urbinati, which seeks to establish a proper form of politics, the chapter argues that democracy is always in excess of particular forms of representation and property.
Keywords: Property, Improper politics, Constructivist turn, Nadia Urbinati, Lisa Disch, Michael Saward
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