Towards an integrated theory of political representation. A reconceptualization of political representation as 'Vertretung' and 'Darstellung'

Starting from an analysis of the contemporary debate on political representation, I considerMichael Saward s model of the representative claim to be the most accurate model to understand political representation today. I see two reasons for this. Firstly, Saward s model enables us to understand forms of political representation which occur outside the restricted domain of politicalinstitutions. Secondly, Saward convincingly shows that political representation is a process which cannot be reduced to merely an act representation as Vertretung. Next to an act of Vertretung, , i.e. the practice of standing for others, being a representative of a constituency, political representationnecessarily entails an aspect of representation as Darstellung, i.e. a staging of the world, an opening towards reality in a more philosophical sense.Although highly innovating, Saward s model also confronts us with some important philosophical questions. In my dissertation I distinguish four such questions: 1) If political representationcontains a dimension of Darstellung, then we must develop a view on how representation as Darstellung and reality relate to one another. In other words, representation as Darstellung opens up ontological and epistemological questions about the relationship between representation and being. 2) If the notion of political representation is extended to representation as Darstellung and to realms which are not conceived of as strictly political, than it becomes unclear what the specificity of political representation is. How should we demarcate political representation from non-political representation? 3) Creating representations cannot be understood apart from hegemonic power configurations which both limit and enable the making of representations. A decent theory of political representation asks for a conceptualization of hegemony. The link between representation and power needs to be investigated. 4) Departing from Saward s model it remains unclear how the link between representation must be thought of. His theory demands a new conceptualization of democratic representation.Throughout my research I have tried to search for answers to these questions on the basis of the works of Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Claude Lefort and Antonio Gramsci. By means of the work of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe I showed how representation (as Darstellung) is first and foremost an ontological concept. Representation is being since there is no outside to representation: every experience of reality is inevitably mediated by representations. On the basis of Laclau s and Mouffe s ontology I have also tried to conceptualize a demarcation between political and non-political representation. I came to the conclusion that political representations occurs when existing representation are contested and new representations enter the scene. However, such conflicts can never be detached from certain hegemonic configurations of power. Relying on the work of Ernesto Laclau and Antonio Gramsci I have illustrated how such hegemonic configurations develop and change. Last, I have also developed a new conception of democratic representation. I turned to thinkers such as Chantal Mouffe, Claude Lefort, Jacques Rancière and Miguel Abensour in order to show that the condition of democratic representation entails the legitimate possibility to contest existing representations by creating new ones. In other words: the politicization of representation is considered legitimate within a democratic context.Building on these insights, I develop an integrated theory of political representation in the conclusion ofmy dissertation. This theory is integrated because it combines a theory of political representation as Darstellung and Vertretung with ontology, a concept of the political, a theory of hegemony and democracy theory.