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Studying Local Representation: A Critical Review, Prakash Kashwan

Prakash Kashwan

What does it mean for a government or an authority to be representative? Obviously, when democratic governments rule according to what ‘people/citizens’ desire they can be said to be representative. However, citizens’ expressed desires are shaped by the environment within which they live. In those cases, desires cannot be taken to be the benchmark against which actions of representative governments can be judged. Hence, Przeworski (1999:2 citing Pitkin 1967) defines representation more broadly as ‘acting in the best interest of the public’. The use of the phrase ‘interest of the public’ begs a simple but critical question: Who constitutes as …