WSPÓŁCZESNE ROZUMIENIE POJĘCIA REPREZENTACJI POLITYCZNEJ (ZARYS PROBLEMU)
Loading...
Date
2005
Authors
Advisor
Editor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Wydział Prawa i Administracji UAM
Title alternative
CONTEMPORARY UNDERSTANDING OF POLITICAL REPRESENTATION (OUTLINE)
Abstract
The article constitutes a review of the contemporary concepts of a political representation.
The phenomenon of representation may be construed in three different ways. Firstly, in the philosophical
approach, such a representation denotes the duality of existence, something that is present
and absent at the same time. The essence of representation in the philosophical approach
stems basically from the fact that each represented unit or each individual lives and thinks (i.e.
functions) in the person who is his or her representative, and through the trust and confidence in
that person, such an individual identifies his or her will with the will of the person who represents
him or her.
The second possible construction of representation is a legal approach, in which a notion of representation
constitutes a legal competence that permits one to make decisions of importance for
the state. In such a case the competence of the electoral body is the authority to designate representatives,
the competence of whom is then to perform public functions that are reserved for a representative
organ.
Finally, the third possible interpretation of representation is within its sociological understanding.
Here, on the one hand a representation is seen as „responsible governments”, while on
the other hand it is perceived as a „government based on the public opinion”. In the first case such
a representation means a government exercised by the elite chosen in democratic elections, liable
to the electorate who has chosen its members because of their politics and the policies they pursue.
It is necessary here to complement the concept of representation with a wording content compliant
to the principles of the state policies and social opinions. Such an approach is close to the broadly
understood, stricte sociological, approach, namely the theory of the „government of the public opinion”.
That theory emphasises the relations between those who govern and those governed, the differences
and similarities between them and their behaviour. It is so because those governments
are to base on the public opinion and are to be, sui generis, a form of aggregating the postulates and
expectations articulated by the public in respect of the manner in which the state’s politics is being
carried out.
Description
Sponsor
Keywords
Citation
Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny 67, 2005, z. 2, s. 223-237.
Seria
ISBN
ISSN
0035-9629