Democratic theorists have paid increasing attention to problems of political representation
over the past two decades. Interest is driven by (a) a political landscape within which …

Opposition to economic liberalization has intensified since the late 1990s, with Latin
America often standing at the forefront of new social and political movements that challenge …

This book explores the theoretical issues, empirical evidence, and normative debates
elicited by the concept of multi-level governance (MLG). The concept is a useful descriptor of …

In one of his last publications, Peter Mair documented how party membership had declined
substantially in virtually all European democracies. As his collaborators on this piece, it …

The changing circumstances in which parties compete in contemporary democracies,
coupled with the changing circumstances in which governments now govern, have led to a …

How should we theorize and normatively assess those individual and collective actors who
claim to represent others for political purposes, but do so without the electoral authorization …

This paper is concerned primarily with the way in which the changing character of political
parties impacts upon their standing, legitimacy, and effectiveness. We see an emerging …

This paper addresses two particular aspects of the much debated democratic deficit in
European Union (EU) governance–the absence of a system of party government at the …

Theories about the decline of legitimacy or a legitimacy crisis are as old as democracy itself.
Yet, representative democracy still exists, and the empirical evidence for a secular decline of …

Although it is generally seen as desirable that parties in government are both responsive
and responsible, these two characteristics are now in increasing tension with one another …