The Concept of Constituency Political Representation, Democratic Legitimacy, and Institutional Design

This book describes the conceptual, historical and normative features of the electoral constituency.

In virtually every democratic nation in the world, political representation is defined by where citizens live. In the United States, for example, Congressional Districts are drawn every 10 years as lines on a map. Why do democratic governments define political representation this way? Are territorial electoral constituencies commensurate with basic principles of democratic legitimacy? And why might our commitments to these principles lead us to endorse a radical alternative: randomly assigning citizens to permanent, single-member electoral constituencies that each looks like the nation they collectively represent? Using the case of the founding period of the United States as an illustration, and drawing from classic sources in Western political theory, this book describes the conceptual, historical, and normative features of the electoral constituency. As an institution conceptually separate from the casting of votes, the electoral constituency is little studied. Its historical origins are often incorrectly described. And as a normative matter, the constituency is almost completely ignored. Raising these conceptual, historical and normative issues, the argument culminates with a novel thought experiment of imagining how politics might change under randomized, permanent, national electoral constituencies. By focusing on how citizens are formally defined for the purpose of political representation, The Concept of Constituency thus offers a novel approach to the central problems of political representation, democratic legitimacy, and institutional design.

Part I. The Concept of Constituency and Legitimate Political Representation: 1. Introduction: constituency, legitimacy, and political representation; 2. The concept of constituency; Part II. On the Silence of the Land: Territorial Constituencies in American History: 3. Justifications and the use of history; 4. The English and Colonial origins of territorial constituencies in the United States; 5. Territorial districts at the American Founding; 6. Territorial representation as an enabler of democratic values; Part III. Standards and Reform: 7. Territory reconsidered; 8. On legitimate representation and a default position: permanent, involuntary, heterogeneous constituencies; 9. The random constituency; Epilogue: the random constituency 50 years from now.

This book focuses on a theoretical and historical treatment of the electoral constituency. It argues for a novel alternative - randomly assign all voters into 435 electoral constituencies around the nation in which they would remain for life. The main purpose is to offer a sustained justification for the electoral constituency itself.

Andrew Rehfeld is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Washington University in St Louis where he has been teaching since 2001. He is the recipient of the University of Chicago Century Fellowship and the Mellon Foundation Dissertation-Year Fellowship. The dissertation on which this book is based was nominated for the American Political Science Association's William Anderson Award in 2002 and the APSA Leo Strauss Award (2001). He is the author of articles which have appeared in academic journals such as Studies in American Political Development and books, including the Dictionary of American History. He is a member of the American Political Science Association, Association for Political Theory, The Historical Society, and the Midwest Political Science Association, among others.