Voice, trust, and memory
Subtitle: marginalized groups and the failings of liberal representation
By: Melissa S. Williams.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Princeton, N.J
Language: eng
Number of pages: 329
Subjects: Minorities -- Political activity; Ethnic groups -- Political activity; Women in politics; Representative government and representation; Equality; Fairness
Description: 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 our society.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [303]-317) and index.