We review the concept of representation from the perspective of recent democratic theory.In the first section, we list the political and social reasons for rethinking democratic representation.In the second section, we review the background in democratic theory. In the third section, we comment on the developments that are sending democratic theorists back to “first things”—the nature of political representation itself. Next, we argue that constituency definition, long ignored in theories of representation, is among the most fundamental of first things because it establishes the frame—the inclusions and exclusions—within which issues are decided. From this perspective, we can appreciate the renewed interest in representative institutions within democratic theory, discussed in the fifth section. Last, we consider emerging nonelectoral forms of representation: new citizen forums and decision-making bodies, representative claims by civil society and advocacy groups, and other “voice entrepreneurs,” for example.Non electoral forms of representation, we believe,are increasingly important to expanding and deepening democracy. But these developments
challenge the existing conceptual and normative resources of democratic theory.Democratic theorists need to develop new tools and critical analyses that are sensitive to these new forms of political influence and indirect forms of power.