Multidimensional Democracy: A Supply and Demand Theory of Representation in American Legislatures

Description

Multidimensional Democracy examines political representation from the supply (legislator) and demand (constituent) perspectives. Focusing on four dimensions - policy, service, allocation, and descriptive representation - it documents systematic variation in what people want from legislators and what legislators choose to emphasize while in office. It has important implications for the study of representation, as well as normative questions about political inequality in America. The demand-side results show that constituents who are economically advantaged tend to prefer policy-based representation while the disadvantaged place relatively more importance in constituent service and/or allocation. Suggestive results from the legislator data complement this finding; legislators in wealthy, white districts tend to focus more on policy while those representing economically disadvantaged and racially diverse districts may place more emphasis on service and/or allocation. A likely consequence is that the policy choices made by representatives reflect the policy preferences of the economically advantaged because policy representation is what those citizens want.

Jeffrey J. Harden is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. He received a PhD in Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2012. His research focuses on political representation, American state politics, and quantitative methodology. He has published articles in the American Political Science Review, Political Analysis, Legislative Studies Quarterly, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly. This book is based on his dissertation, which was a co-recipient of the 2013 Christopher Z. Mooney Award from the American Political Science Association's State Politics and Policy Section.