Voice, Trust, & Memory – Marginalized Groups & the Failings of Liberal Representation: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation - Hardcover

Williams, Melissa S

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691037140 ISBN 13: 9780691037141

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Does fair political representation for historically disadvantaged groups require their presence in legislative bodies? The intuition that women are best represented by women, and African-Americans by other African-Americans, has deep historical roots. Yet the conception of fair representation that prevails in American political culture and jurisprudence - what Melissa Williams calls "liberal representation" - concludes that the social identity of legislative representatives does not bear on their quality as representatives. Liberal representation's slogan, "one person, one vote" concludes that the outcome of the electoral and legislative process is fair, whatever it happens to be, so long as no voter is systematically excluded. Challenging this notion, Williams maintains that fair representation is powerfully affected by the identity of legislators and whether some of them are actually members of the historically marginalized groups that are most in need of protection in society.

About this title

About the Author

Melissa S. Williams is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto.

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691037140
• ISBN 13: 9780691037141
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 344