Political De-Representation

= concept developed by Francisco Jurado et al. to move towards post-representational democracy

Interview

From an interview of Francisco Jurado conducted by Carlos Delclos:

• The idea of political de-representation I find especially interesting. Could you elaborate on it a bit?

De-representation is what we’d naturally call direct participation. Why flip it around and express it from a negative concept, then? Simply put, we do this because in the present juridical order, the starting point of human beings is one of being represented. From the time we’re born to the day we die, we are represented in the political field. All we are allowed is to try to choose who will be in charge of representing us. In this sense, any initiative that consists of a person directly participating in politics, without intermediaries (as in Democracy 4.0, citizen legislation or truly participatory budgets), would entail breaking the general rule, the “natural” state of representation. We would thus be de-representing ourselves." (https://roarmag.org/essays/podemos-spain-fransisco-jurado-interviw/)