Reselection and Deselection in the Political Party

Abstract

This chapter starts by presenting recall mechanisms as an instance of democratic partisanship that may usefully bridge the divide between representative and direct mechanisms of popular participation. It examines the specificities of mandatory reselection and deselection as they apply to intra-party democracy, and the prima facie merits they display. It goes on to discuss some problems related to the recall of representatives in liberal democracy, before suggesting possible answers and responding to possible criticisms. The authors’ main contention is that issues around the ethics of recalling representatives provide an important basis for exploring how a particular conception of partisanship (also referred to as democratic conception) can help mediate some of the tensions between representative institutions and direct democracy. Show more