Man ändrar inte åsikt bara för att man tvingas byta linje - En studie om politisk representation i praktiken

Sammanfattning: Representative democracy is the most fast growing political system in the world. The politician, however, plays various roles within his representative assignment. This paper shows that there are divergence between the representatives’ normative position and her political actions. The aim of this study is to understand what representation is and what we can expect from the representative. The main focus is therefore on the individual politician. Role-theory as well as normative democracy-theory contributes by distinguishing political paradoxes. I argue, though, that we need to look at what the representative does instead of what she is in order to understand representation in practice. Finally, I exemplify certain situations and circumstances in which it is possible to foresee that the representative may switch from one role to another.