In Defense of Elections

Abstract

This article presents the case for the defence of a beleaguered creature in the twenty-first century: elections. It looks first at the arguments against elections, recently articulated by David Van Reybrouk. It then revises the value of representation to restate the central place elections have had and ought to have in modern democracies. It does so particularly by highlighting Nadia Urbinati’s important contribution to our understanding of representative democracies. The article however questions the validity of the distinction between ‘electoral democracy’ and ‘representative democracy’, before concluding with some final reflections.