Reconciling Representation and Accountability
Three Visions of Democracy Compared
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6267351 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Steffen Ganghof (0000-0003-2738-2283, University of Potsdam, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2016 |
| Volume | 51 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 209-233 |
| Publication date | 2016-04-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Government and Opposition (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0017-257X • E-ISSN: 1477-7053 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/gov.2015.15 |
| OpenAlex | W1872476706 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 11 |
| References cited | 44 |
An egalitarian approach to the fair representation of voters specifies three main institutional requirements: proportional representation, legislative majority rule and a parliamentary system of government. This approach faces two challenges: the under-determination of the resulting democratic process and the idea of a trade-off between equal voter representation and government accountability. Linking conceptual with comparative analysis, the article argues that we can distinguish three ideal-typical varieties of the egalitarian vision of democracy, based on the stages at which majorities are formed. These varieties do not put different relative normative weight onto equality and accountability, but have different conceptions of both values and their reconciliation. The view that accountability is necessarily linked to ‘clarity of responsibility’, widespread in the comparative literature, is questioned – as is the idea of a general trade-off between representation and accountability. Depending on the vision of democracy, the two values need not be in conflict
Accountability · CLARITY · Democracy · Government (linguistics · Law and economics · Legislature · Normative · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Sociology · Vision · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration
Taking democracy seriously
Quand la compétition électorale détermine la disproportionnalité
Rethinking Participation in Commons Governance
Faire Repräsentation versus klare Richtungsentscheide
Assessing democratic representation in multi-level democracies
Resisting Abusive Legalism
Patterns of accountability and representation
Comparing Same-Sex Marriage in Australia and Canada
Multidimensional government-citizen congruence and satisfaction with democracy
Semi-parliamentary government in perspective
Australian bicameralism as semi-parliamentarism
Making and Breaking Governments
Political Constitutionalism
The Economic Vote
Veto Players
The Calculus of Consent
The Rule of the Many
The Feasibility Issue
The Constitution of Equality
Chapter 5. Fairness and Bias in Electoral Systems
Elections and Representation
Justificatory Liberalism An Essay on Epistemology and Political Theory
The Logic of Democracy
Democratic Justice and the Social Contract
Räumliche Modelle des Repräsentationsgefühls. Vergleichende Analysen mit Fokus auf die Bundestagswahl 2009
On the Rationale of Group Decision-making
In Search of the Uncovered Set
Normative Balance and Electoral Reform
Electoral Systems With a Majority Bonus as Unconventional Mixed Systems
Equality-Based Comparison
Four Visions of Democracy
Is the ‘Constitution of Equality’ Parliamentary, Presidential or Hybrid
Is Rule by Majorities Special
Government Status and Legislative Behaviour
Bicameralism As a Form of Government (Or)
Parliamentary Opposition under Minority Parliamentarism
Accountability and Patterns of Alternation in Pluralitarian, Majoritarian and Consensus Democracies
Bridging the ideological space
Who governs? Parties and policies in Denmark
Holding governments accountable? Individual heterogeneity in performance voting
Formation rules and minority governments
Effective” Number of Parties
The Quantity and the Quality of Party Systems
Voters, Parties, and Declared Government Policy
Parties and Policymaking in Multiparty Governments
A Cross-National Analysis of Economic Voting
The Electoral Sweet Spot
Electoral "efficiency" and the move to mixed-member systems
Proportionality, disproportionality and electoral systems
Contextual influences on the decision calculus
| Citations per year | 1.1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2016 - 2025 (10) |
| Highly cited | No |