The trace of political representation
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The trace of political representation
（SUNY series in radical social and political theory）
State University of New York Press, c1995
- : pbk.
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-228) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Trace of Political Representation is a philosophical analysis of the discourses, practices, and effects of representation in political institutions, with an ultimate interest in contemporary American democracy. The perspective governing its approach is derived largely from Foucault, and tempered by a range of contemporary philosophers, including Derrida, Pitkin, and Castoriadis.
Seitz explores and questions the traditional, metaphysical notion that what gets represented in the apparatuses and processes of representation is a political subject or identity (for example, will, opinion, interests) that exists fundamentally independent of and prior to that process. To accomplish this, he sketches out a historical articulation of several prominent formations of political representation from the past and then focuses on more contemporary political developments and dynamics, including the impact of "communications" technology and culture on the processes and institutions of representation.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction: The Position of Political Representation
PART ONE Archaeological Fragments of Political Representation
Chapter I. Introducing the Metaphysics of Substitution
Examples and specifics.
The one and the many problems.
Chapter II. Representing England Twice
From the general to the specific.
The community of representation in medieval England
The force of representation.
"The politicians of metaphysics . . ."(and virtual representation)
Chapter III. Common Sense and the Constitution of Representation
Actually in America.
Powering discourse, locking in to consent.
Mixing representation: a house divided.
Representation distributed.
PART TWO Putting Some Pieces Together (and Taking Them Apart Again)
Chapter IV. Achieving Ends: The Service of Representation
Getting lost in translation.
The legitimation and rationalization of formations of power, and discourse.
Instrumenting representation.
Chapter V. Counting Images of the Political Subject
Driving forces.
Hierarchies of difference: return of the One and the many.
What counts.
Chapter VI. Assuming Positions: Representative Democracy and Warfare
State of war.
Informing the subject.
The war room: affirming conflict.
Notes
Bibliography
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"