Democracy Paradox

Lisa Disch on Representation, Constituencies, and Political Leadership

Feb 8, 2022

50:21

Highlights

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Do You Believe That Leaders Provide the Clarity for the People to Learn Who They Are?

02:49

I Think It's an Irony That We Have Within the Way That We Think About Our Elected Officials

03:23

Pass the Post Voting - I Wish We Voted Differently

02:42

Introduction

3min

Should Elected Officials Serve as Representatives of Their Constituents?

5min

The Line Between Legitimate Democracy and Manipulation

4min

Do You Think Occupy Wall Street Is Good for Democracy?

4min

The Constituency Paradox

5min

I Think It's an Irony That We Have Within the Way That We Think About Our Elected Officials

3min

Does Social Media Make It Harder for Politicians to Frame the Debate?

3min

Pass the Post Voting - I Wish We Voted Differently

3min

The Politics of the Elections - What's Going on in the Middle East Right Now?

5min

10.

Democracy Disincorporates Sovereignty

3min

11.

Do You Believe That Leaders Provide the Clarity for the People to Learn Who They Are?

3min

12.

How to Make a Couarse Correction When You Have Anti Democratic Leaders

4min

13.

Is There a Place for Idealism?

4min

The tension in what we want from democratic representation is that we want control over our representatives and we want creativity from them. If we control them, they are delegates. They're not representatives. They do what we want. They act in our place instead of us. They act as we would in our place. If they give us creativity, they will bring things out of us and do things for us that we may not have imagined.

Lisa Disch

A full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a short review of Making Constituencies: Representation as Mobilization in Mass Democracy here.

Lisa Disch is a professor of political science at the University of Michigan and an elected member of the Ann Arbor City Council. She is the author of the book Making Constituencies: Representation as Mobilization in Mass Democracy.

Key Highlights