We review the concept of representation from the perspective of recent democratic the- ory. In the first section, we list the political and social reasons for rethinking democratic rep- resentation. In the second section, we review the background in democratic theory. In the third section, we comment on the develop- ments that are sending democratic theorists back to “first things”—the nature of political representation itself. Next, we argue that con- stituency definition, long ignored in theories of representation, is among the most funda- mental 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 sec- tion. Last, we consider emerging nonelectoral forms of representation: new citizen forums and decision-making bodies, representative claims by civil society and advocacy groups,