新的法国和德国联合合作项目，由德国研究基金会（DFG）和法国国家科研署（ANR）资助（2016–2020年）。参与这项研究的科学家分别是来自杜伊斯堡 — 埃森大学的托马斯•海贝勒，法兰克福大学的Bri­gitte Geis­sel教授， 以及法国大学科学院的Yves Sin­to­mer教授 和法国国家科学研究中心 — 社会科学高等学院的Sté­pha­nie Tawa Lama-Rewal教授。

政治代表制度的已经稳定立足的形式目前处于危机之中，比如表现在不断降低的信任上。同时，在世界范围内形成了对政治代表制度的（新）诉求。可是，相关的研究依然广泛地集中在选举（授权）以及个别的国家。其结果是，我们还缺乏对政治代表制度的新诉求的比较和全球视野的广泛分析。我们这项研究计划就是致力于填补这个空白。为此，我们的研究将把焦点放到下述五个国家:第一，法国和德国这两个在欧盟据领导地位的，目前积极实验新的代表制度的民主国家；第二，三个金砖国家：巴西、印度和中国。巴西是拉丁美洲最大的民主国家，拥有创新的参与式程序，对政治代表制度的诉求方面形成了竞争；印度是世界最大的民主国家，是（选举）比例制调节领域的先行者；而中国呢，是个专制政体，可是却有着特殊的对政治代表制度的诉求。

我们将从比较和全球视野对这五个国家的政治代表制度的诉求进行辩认、分析和类型化。在此，我们的研究集中在下述两个领域：公众关于国家这一级的政治代表制度（全国议会和媒体）的诉求的讨论；政治代表制度的诉求在地方一级的参与程序。我们的研究主要建立在对数据（文献和网页的浏览，参与性的观察，专家访谈等等）的定量分析上，而数据的分析依据“政治代表制度的诉求分析”的扩大化方法。为概括案列分析，我们运用“案例思考”的方式。我们将辨认政治代表制度的诉求的模式和类型──这有利于“术语式，分类式和启发式方法”（韦伯，1921年），并继续发展政治代表制度的理论。

Description and Outcome:

1. Identifying, Analyzing and Comparing New Representative Claims beyond Election (Brazil, China, France, Germany, India)

This project was born from the observation that political representation is in crisis across the continents, a fact that takes different forms depending on the context. The CLAIMS group research has aimed to address this almost universal phenomenon, by comparing the global North and the global South, young and old democracies, but also democracies and an authoritarian regime. We had a double premise:
(a) beyond elections, political representation takes multiple forms, claims to have very diverse constituencies and contributes to construct  them;
(b) although “classic” political representation in the Western world is in crisis, we are witnessing a multiplication of “representative claims” (Saward 2006) unfolding in new social spheres, carried by non-electoral actors, serving various causes.
Our first research objective was then to identify, categorize and compare these representative claims through a series of case studies in our five countries. On the basis of this empirical research, our second objective was to evaluate the heuristic interest of the concept of representative claim, to give it historical depth and more broadly to favor a new conceptualization of political representation.

2. Analyzing Discourses and Practices at the National and Local Levels from a Comparative Perspective

Representative claims are expressed through speeches but also practices; some exist at the local level, others at the national level. We have therefore chosen to focus our analysis, in each of the five countries, on two types of object:
(1) the most significant national debates, as expressed in parliaments, in other official bodies and in the (classic or social) media; and
(2) participatory devices at the subnational level and of new social classes (such as private entrepreneurs in China).
This choice led us to use several qualitative methods: direct observation of participatory devices, analysis of video footage, interviews, analysis of debates in the digital public sphere. In order to facilitate the comparison of the various data collected in our fieldwork, we developed a common code book allowing an analysis of the texts of our corpus with the ATLAS.TI software (after internal training in the use of the software).

3. Research Objectives of the Duisburg Team

Guided by the framework of the CLAIMs project, the Duisburg team set three main research objectives. We aimed to identify
(1) how the concept of political representation is perceived and manifested;
(2) if and how actors make representative claims;
(3) how the new ICTs alter traditional representative patterns in China.

• The reconsideration of applicability of the “claims” perspective to the Chinese context. First, during our field work in China it has become quickly apparent that the term “political representation” in our interviewees’ perception was strongly connected to the formal political institutions such as people’s congresses, party and government agencies. We therefore had to adjust the core terminology at use from “representation” to “interest expression”. This appropriation brought clarity to our conceptualization of political representation and allowed us to unseal a rich array of informal representative patterns in the Chinese context.
• We also accounted some difficulties in applying Saward’s CLAIM analytical. Representative claims, under the condition of tightening censorship in China, as we found out in our analysis, were often incomplete (as according to the Saward’s model) and very often implicit. Various actors, in order to bypass the censorship, applied various techniques for expressing and discussing their interests. Sometimes, interest expression occurred without obvious representative claim-making.
• The focus on digitalization of political representation. We also paid significant attention to interest expression enabled by social media in China. We examined how individual and group interests are expressed by entrepreneurs, bloggers and people’s congress deputies. We subsequently proposed a concept of online connective representation. Additionally, we analyzed the dynamics of the representative claim-making by the Chinese Communist Party due to the fast proliferation of the new information and communication technologies.

Main outcome (Duisburg team)

During the CLAIMS project, the Duisburg research team paid specific attention to (1) contribution to theoretical, conceptual, and methodological developments built upon empirical case studies; (2) close cooperation with other project team members and to presentation of our research results to the readership in and beyond Europe.

Theoretical Contribution

As a group in collaboration with other participant researchers we made several important theoretical, conceptual and methodological observations that were presented in our publications. Specifically, the Duisburg team made two key contributions to the theory of political representation. Firstly, we proposed a classification of political representation in an authoritarian context. Secondly, focusing on digitalization of political representation, we offered a new concept of connective representation.

a) Proposing a new analytical perspective: typology of political presentation in authoritarian systems

In the academic literature, the concept of political representation is primarily related to mechanisms of representation in a democratic setting, used in a rather technical or normative sense and concerned with institutionalized representation in legislatures and parliaments, with a strong focus on elections by which citizens express their political will. Widely lacking in the scholarly literature are approaches which explain the nature of political representation in a non-democratic setting. Thus, patterns of formal and informal representation in an authoritarian context have constituted a ‘black hole’ in the literature on representation.

In our research we persistently argued that in China, as elsewhere, there are vibrant mechanisms of representation, albeit strongly monitored by the hegemony of the party-state which attempts to incorporate them into its political mainstream and institutions. Currently these mechanisms are not directed towards changing the system but are embedded in the political system. We demonstrated that in a non-democratic setting, representation takes different forms compared to democratic systems. We proposed a typology of political representation that includes five types such as formal, informal, symbolic, traditional, and connective.

We paid specific attention to the informal patterns of representation and found that informal mechanisms as response to party hegemony are frequent and as a rule less coordinated, and usually take a form of what James C. Scott called ‘everyday forms of representation’. Even individual acts implying a ‘we intention’ can be viewed as an informal mode of this kind of everyday representation, particularly due to their ‘large number effect’.

Furthermore, we argued that traditional and personalized types resulting from China’s traditional political culture continue to have a major impact on the perception of representation in the Chinese polity and society. In particular, we showcased how the party-state is using symbolic patterns of representation to shape political identity and reinforce its political legitimacy.

At the same time, however, as we also demonstrated, ‘digital representation’ has emerged as a vigorous form of new patterns of representation via the cyberspace, spawning new and innovative modes of formal, informal and symbolic political representation.

b) Proposing a methodological toolkit for analyzing online representation

Building upon our analytical perspective and the recent research on digital political communication and representation, we proposed a methodological toolkit for analyzing online political representation in the context of the Chinese social media. We proposed everydayness, connectivity, interactivity and individualization as four distinctive features of e-representation. Everydayness of e-representation refers to the daily online activeness. In other words, a representative should be present online, e.g. create content, publish posts and react to comments on daily bases and not only occasionally. In the online environment where tons of information being constantly circulated and users must compete for readership views. Therefore, maintaining daily presence is essential to the users’ surviving ability. Connectivity implies the connectedness of a representative to other users. Connectivity level can be measured by the number of general followers or followers and the number of re-posts of blogger’s original content by netizens. Interactivity is understood as a direct online dialog between representative and public in forms of comments and private messages; and indirect ways of interaction such as likes and re-posts. Finally, individualization implies to the fact that there is not a fixed and unified format of blogging and pc deputies are free to choose and even create their own individual styles of online expression. Thus, online claim-making is highly individualized. Finally, in the analysis of the interest expression on the Chinese social media it is also crucial to account for increasing online censorship by the party-state. Particularly in recent years, online expression has become constrained and limited due to the tightening control by the authorities in China. We demonstrated how sophisticated mechanisms of censorship have a direct impact on e-representation.

c) Developing a new conceptual framework: the concept of “connective representation”

We argued in our research that new forms of political representation have emerged in the Chinese online space. At the heart of our argument we placed the concept of connective representation. We define connective representation as self-representation by means of online connectivity. Specifically, it is rotating expression of collective interests, opinions, ideas, and sentiments by separate individuals or groups who are interconnected in digital networks through shared online platforms. We used the case study of China’s private entrepreneurs to exemplify the concept of connective representation. Our findings have several implications for our understanding of entrepreneurial in-group dynamics, political representation in China, and the theory of political representation.

First, connective representation supports the argument that entrepreneurs share a common identity and act as a strategic group. Connective representation demonstrates how, through connectivity, PEs enhance their in-group identity and individually act in the interests of the group. Similarly, entrepreneurs strategically engage in online communication with the general public to push forward certain discourses that advance the entrepreneurial group’s interests. Stronger public support makes PEs’ online voice stronger. A stronger voice increases the chances of being heard by the authorities and sparking a reaction from them.

The second point we demonstrated about the in-group dynamics is that online connectivity allows any individual entrepreneur to act as a representative spontaneously and on their own initiative. This dynamic is significantly different from the offline, strictly hierarchical in-group structure. It opens up new possibilities for any individual entrepreneur to act as a group representative regardless of their status and prestige within the group. It is access to the shared information and approval of other members that enables individuals to speak to the authorities in the interest of the group. Successful communication with the authorities can subsequently improve an individual’s image and standing within the peer group.

Connective representation challenges our conventional understanding of political representation in China. We identified two main distinctive features of online connective representation: the role of individual entrepreneurs and the role of the public. For decades, in authoritarian China, political representation has been structured and controlled by the party-state. Access to representation has been granted based on one’s status in the party-state hierarchy. In contrast, cyberspace provides an opportunity to break through hierarchical constraints and enables individuals to speak for themselves as well as for their groups. We thus observe new individualized patterns of political representation by means of online connectivity in the authoritarian context of China.

The concept of connective representation also contributes to the general theory of political representation. In particular, connective representation uncovered a new representative–represented dynamic. In the online environment, where spatial boundaries do not exist, there is little need to make someone present, because everyone is present. Moreover, such an environment encourages and enables individuals to speak for themselves, bypassing the conventional mandate relationship that exists offline. We find that individual PEs speak for the interests of their peer group; by doing so, they take up the role of group representatives. However, representatives emerge spontaneously, without any selection, election, or appointment (as in mandate representation). They become representatives by individual choice.

Furthermore, through connectivity several individuals can act as representatives simultaneously, creating a mobilizing effect. This suggests that representation should not be understood merely as Hanna Pitkin’s famous “making present again,” with an emphasis on “again” (Pitkin 1972); as Lisa Disch (2011) suggests, representation can also be read as active repetition of “making present” that brings out the mobilizing aspect of representation. By repetitively approaching the party-state in rotation and voicing individual opinions, PEs create a mobilizing effect that eventually benefits the group. This also creates a dynamic in which one individual entrepreneur simultaneously acts as representative and represented. This suggests that in cyberspace, the roles of representative and represented are not fixed but blurred, and can be swapped around flexibly.

Fieldwork

The research was based on extensive fieldwork (semi-structured interviews with academics, bloggers, entrepreneurs, IT firms (Tencent), People’s Congress deputies, members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conferences, chambers of industry and commerce, local officials, entrepreneurial associations, internet experts, etc.), altogether in 23 cities and counties in eleven provinces in North, Central, East, Southeast and Southwest China. Academics from Universities in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Zhengzhou, Xichang, Wuhan and Qingdao supported us in organizing fieldwork.

 
Events 学术活动

Publications 出版物

Team Duisburg:

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​Prof. Dr. Thomas Heberer 托马斯•海贝勒教授
Project Leader

thomas.heberer@uni-due.de

​
Dr. Anna Shpakovskaya 安娜博士
Postdoctoral Research Fellow

anna.shpakovskaya@uni-due.de

​
​Daniel Sperl 白亮
Research Assistant

daniel.sperl@stud.uni-due.de
 

​
​Jendrik Niebuhr 倪彦迪
Research Assistant

jendrik.niebuhr@stud.uni-due.de