Representation and Community in Western Democracies

This book of critical essays explores new thinking and new evidence on the role of locally-elected representatives in Western democracies. The book is topical in the light of the intense political and popular interest in the problems of making local government representative and responsive. The contributors, drawn from the UK, the US, France, Denmark, and Norway, deal with two principal themes: political recruitment and representativeness and the processes of political representation.

Nirmala Rao is Senior Lecturer in Politics and Head of the Department of Social Policy and Politics at Goldsmiths' College, University of London.