Speaking for others : the ethics of informal political representation / Wendy Salkin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Salkin, Wendy.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political ethics--United States.

Political ethics.

Representative government and representation--United States.

Representative government and representation.

Political leadership--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.

Political leadership.

Political participation--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.

Political participation.

Community organization--Moral and ethical aspects--United States.

Community organization.

African Americans--Politics and government.

African Americans.

Power (Social sciences)--United States.

Power (Social sciences).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xi, 356 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London, England : Harvard University Press, 2024.

Summary:

From Booker T. Washington to a neighbor who speaks up at a city council meeting, many of the people who represent us were never elected. Wendy Salkin provides the first systematic analysis of the ubiquitous phenomenon of informal political representation, a practice of immense political value that raises serious ethical concerns.

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraphs

Contents

Introduction

Group Representation

The Value of Informal Political Representation

The Dangers of Informal Political Representation

The Central Ethical Question and the Argument

The Normatively Neutral Approach

Informal Political Representation at the Confluence of Ideal and Nonideal Political Theory

Part One

1. Audience Conferral

Speaking For and Speaking About

Distinguishing Informal Political Representation from Formal Political Representation

The Phenomenon of Informal Political Representation

Audience Conferral

The Example of Booker T. Washington

Alternative Accounts of Informal Representative Emergence

The Advantages of the Audience Conferral Account

2. Conscription and the Power to Influence

The Conscription of the Informal Political Representative

Audience Motivations and Audience Reasons

The Duties of Conferring Audiences

The Power to Influence

Informal Political Representatives' Pro Tanto Duties

Due Care and Loss Prevention

Differences of Degree and Kind in Informal Political Representatives' Pro Tanto Duties

Grounds for Reasonable Rejection

Conclusion

3. Group Authorization

Principals and Agents

Informal Authorization and Informal Ratification

Effects of Group Authorization: Discretionary and Normative Powers

Informal Political Representative Capture: Group Conferral without Group Authorization

Part Two

4. The Duties of Informal Political Representatives

Skeptical Challenges to Informal Political Representation

Noncontribution and Eradication

Responses to Skeptical Challenges

Democracy Within Duties

Justice Without Duties

Further Roles for Democracy Within Duties, Justice Without Duties, and Informal Political Representation

Hard Cases.

Conclusion

5. The Legitimate Complaints of the Represented

An Overview of Complaint Types

Content Complaints

Procedural Complaints

Power Complaints

Susceptibility and Responsiveness to Complaints

6. Descriptive and Nondescriptive Informal Political Representation

Arguments for the Descriptive Preference Principle

Nondescriptive Informal Political Representatives

Who May Be a Nondescriptive Informal Political Representative?

7. Expertise and Representative Deference

Michael Walzer on Helpfulness and General Consciousness

Responding to Michael Walzer

Expertise and the Limits of Deference

Concerns about Paternalism

Key Insights and Open Questions

Future Directions

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Other Format:

Print version: Salkin, Wendy Speaking for Others

ISBN:

9780674296985

OCLC:

1436834090