Does fair political representation for historically
disadvantaged groups require their presence in legislative bodies?
The intuition that women are best represented by women, and
African-Americans by other African-Americans, has deep historical
roots. Yet the conception of fair representation that prevails in
American political culture and jurisprudence--what Melissa Williams
calls "liberal representation"--concludes that the social identity
of legislative representatives does not bear on their quality as
representatives. Liberal representation's slogan, "one person, one
vote," concludes that the outcome of the electoral and legislative
process is fair, whatever it happens to be, so long as no voter is
systematically excluded. Challenging this notion, Williams
maintains that fair representation is powerfully affected by the
identity of legislators and whether some of them are actually
members of the historically marginalized groups that are most in
need of protection in our society.
Williams argues first that the distinctive voice of these groups
should be audible within the legislative process. Second, she holds
that the self-representation of these groups is necessary to
sustain their trust in democratic institutions. The memory of
state-sponsored discrimination against these groups, together with
ongoing patterns of inequality along group lines, provides both a
reason to recognize group claims and a way of distinguishing
stronger from weaker claims. The book closes by proposing
institutions that can secure fair representation for marginalized
groups without compromising principles of democratic freedom and
equality.
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