Lecture | Workshop

The Principles of Representative Government: Thirty Years Later

• Henk te Velde and Hugo Bonin

Date

Thursday 20 February 2025 - Friday 21 February 2025

Address

Johan Huizinga
Doelensteeg 16
2311 VL Leiden

Room

2.60

In-person event (Johan Huizinga Building, Leiden University), limited number of places available, please register with Felix Bosch ([e-mail]).

Workshop

Published in French 1995 and translated into English in 1997, Bernard Manin’s Principles of Representative Government stands as one of the classic works on the question of political representation. Favorably reviewed as soon as it came out, the book has since enjoyed considerable success, both in academia and beyond. Bridging historical analysis and political theorising, Manin offered a lasting contribution, which still shapes discussions of election, representation, democracy or sortition to this day. This workshop is the occasion for a critical reappraisal of the core ideas of the book, as well as a study of its reception and its impact in debates on political representation.

Programme

Thursday 20^th

15h30      Introduction - Henk te Velde (Leiden) and Hugo Bonin (Jyväskylä)
16h-18h   Keynote session 

• Nicolas Roussellier (Sciences Po Paris)  - Les Principes du gouvernement représentatif in its intellectual moment
• Biancamaria Fontana (Lausanne) - On the Genesis of the Principles: the Invention of the Modern Republic
• Samuel Hayat (CNRS) -  Manin on the Syllabus: How to Teach (with) Manin's Classic

Friday 21^st

9h-10h30 - Session 1 - Theory & history 

• Josine Blok (Utrecht) - Representation in Democratic Athens: Manin’s Principles Revisited
• Pierre Étienne Vandamme (Louvain) - Can Elections Be Egalitarian

10h30 - Coffee break

11h-12h30 Session 2 - History, 19^th century 

• Pasi Ihalainen (Jyväskylä) : On Parliamentary Government in the 19^th century
• Anne Heyer (Leiden) : Representation and the Rise of Political Parties 
• Anne Engelst Nørgaard (Trondheim): Petitions and Representative Government  

13h30-15h00 Session 3 - History, 20^th century 

• Zoé Kergomard (Zürich): Contested Representation. Swiss Political Parties in Post-War Election Campaigns
• Ido de Haan (Utrecht): Post-Democratic Representation: Leaders, Experts and Brokers in an Audience Democracy
• Antoine Chollet (Lausanne): Referendum and Representative Government 

15h-15h30 General discussion and conclusion 

Co-funded by Pasi Ihalainen’s Academy of Finland Professorship (#21000061931) and Leiden University. 

Registration / Enrollment

In-person event (Johan Huizinga Building, Leiden University), free entrance but please register with Felix Bosch ([e-mail]).

More information