The "mandate-independence controversy" is one of those interminable theoretical debates that never seem to get resolved, no matter how many thinkers take positions on the one side or the other. It may be summarized in the dichotomous choice: is a representative to do what his constituents want, or what he thinks best? The dispute grows out of the paradox inherent in the very meaning of representation: making present is some sense what is nevertheless not literally present. But in political theory the paradox is overlaid by a number of substantive concerns: the relationship among representatives in a legislature, the role of political parties, how local and partial concerns fit into the national good, how deliberation relates to voting and both to governing, and so on.