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Stephen Macedo, Princeton University, macedo@princeton.edu

Normative reflection is central to the design of legitimate and effective representative institutions, so this year’s theme furnishes an occasion to think about the ways in which political theory can inform and challenge the work of our empirical and formal colleagues.  Likewise, how should normative theorizing respond to the challenges faced by representative institutions in the contemporary world, at various levels, local, regional, national, and global?  How should the work of our empirical and formal colleagues, concerning inequality, diversity, citizen competence, elite polarization, and other matters, affect our own reflections on representative and democratic ideals?  What ideals should inform the design of representative institutions, norms, and practices?  Is representative government best thought of as a way of perfecting collective self-rule, or is representation necessarily (or increasingly) a poor substitute for more direct, participatory, and (as some would say), “democratic” forms of self-government?  Given the increasing importance of delegation of political power to institutions insulated from direct electoral accountability – both domestically and internationally – under what conditions are such institutions consistent with, or even improvements upon, traditional forms of political representation?  What can those working in the Western canon – or outside of it -- learn from other political cultures and traditions? 

Representation is a capacious normative theme at the very center of the discipline of modern political science.  Consistent with the program theme of renewal, and the program chairs’ call for efforts to promote work across subfields and divisions, we encourage creative and diverse panels that include scholars with common interests but differing methodological, theoretical, and normative points of view.  Efforts to bridge normative, historical, empirical, and formal divisions are especially welcome, as our panels that bring together senior and junior scholars.  These remarks are meant to be generative rather than restrictive: interesting and important panels and papers not closely related to the conference theme are very welcome.