In the past two decades, democratic institutions have faced a crisis of representation. From authoritarian backsliding in countries with recent democratic transformations, to severe challenges to established liberal democracies, the meaning of political representation and whether and when it succeeds has become highly debated. In response to an increasingly fraught political climate, Contested Representation brings together scholars from across the United States and Europe to critically assess the performance of representative institutions in Europe and North America. Taking an interdisciplinary, comparative approach, this volume looks at the viability of electoral institutions, the responsiveness of government to public preferences, alternative institutions for more inclusive democracy, and the political economy of populism. Chapters also address the broader normative question of how democratic institutions can be adapted to new conditions and challenges. Expertly researched and exceedingly timely, Contested Representation provides critical frameworks that highlight realistic pathways to democratic reform.

What is the effect of deliberation on political actors and when can we expect it to be successful? Are mutual understanding and consensus realistic results of political decision-making processes or is compromise the most we can hope for? This book addresses what appear to be blind spots in theories of deliberative democracy: the conceptual and empirical relationship between communication and political preferences and the institutional preconditions for preference change and co-ordination. It proposes a model of preference transformation through communication and develops a typology of modes of political interaction that distinguishes discussion, deliberation, debate and bargaining. This serves as a framework for the analysis of a fundamental and highly polarising conflict - the German decision over the import of embryonic stem cells. Analysis of communicative interaction in different forums shows how a well justified and widely accepted compromise was achieved in a conflict that had appeared irresolvable in moral terms and irreducible in terms of interest.