“Political representation” is a problematic term in global justice debates. It is problematic for at least two reasons. On the one hand, most discussion of such representation remains linked to the territorially bounded nation state, but at a time when globalization has occasioned some considerable erosion of state sovereignty. On the other hand, attempts to apply the concept of representation beyond the borders of the nation state, in terms of state majoritarianism in the UN, prove to be normatively undesirable and have failed to win the support of leading theorists of global justice. In what follows, I first sketch the standard conception of political representation within the nation state, noting that this conception may be accommodated by a scheme of transnational democracy that takes into account the erosion of sovereignty consequent on globalization. I then consider the difficulty of extending this familiar conception beyond state borders according to the model of state...
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Allen, M. (2011). Political Representation. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_173
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_173
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