The politics of voter presence

dc.contributor.authorMalkopoulou, A.
dc.contributor.authorHill, L.
dc.date.issued2022
dc.description.abstractBy focusing only on the composition of representative bodies, the traditional ‘politics of presence’ approach has inadvertently diminished the value of participation for representation. It overlooks that there exist ‘elite voters’ who reinforce discrimination against abstainers at the policy level and create obstacles for improving the lives of the marginalized. We offer a remedy to persisting patterns of political exclusion by arguing in favour of a ‘politics of presence’ at the polls. This requires high and socially diverse turnout that will make representation more inclusive, broader and qualitatively different; it will be more descriptive, not of group characteristics, but of the interests, opinions and ideas of voters. Our alternative is a fusion of descriptive and substantive representation ‘descriptive responsiveness’.
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityAnthoula Malkopoulou, Lisa Hill
dc.identifier.citationInternational Political Science Review, 2022; 43(2):157-172
dc.identifier.doi10.1177/0192512120922902
dc.identifier.issn0192-5121
dc.identifier.issn1460-373X
dc.identifier.orcidHill, L. [0000-0002-9098-7800]
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2440/126440
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSAGE Publications
dc.relation.granthttp://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP0985074
dc.rights© The Author(s) 2020. Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions
dc.source.urihttps://doi.org/10.1177/0192512120922902
dc.subjectDescriptive representation; politics of presence; responsiveness; voting; voter turnout; substantive representation; participation; inequalities
dc.titleThe politics of voter presence
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.publication-statusPublished

Files