Authors: Hermet, Badie, Birnbaum & Braud
Summary: In this short entry (125 words), representation is defined as the process through which the decision making is legitimated by the sovereign people, which delegate them by the device of the election. There are, however, other mechanisms of representation, such as the ancient regime type or the Leninist type (for the avant-garde).
A second meaning indicates instead more generally the representatives as a political collective.