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Contemporary democracies are witnessing significant transformations in how citizens are represented and how political demands are aggregated and voiced. Alongside the crisis of traditional party-based representation, new forms of political intermediation have emerged: clientelistic networks that adapt to changing socio-economic conditions, social movements that construct novel collective identities, and informal brokers who bridge state institutions and marginalized territories.
This panel investigates these transformations by bringing together empirical research on political representation and intermediation across different national contexts, alongside theoretical reflection on how collective identities become politicized. We ask: can practices historically dismissed as clientelistic be reconsidered as legitimate, even virtuous, forms of political resource distribution in contexts of institutional weakness? How do new social and political identities gain, or fail to gain, political recognition? What role do local intermediaries play in bridging the gap between citizens and formal institutions?
Drawing on case studies around the world, alongside theoretical work on collective identity and political subjectivation, the panel wants to build a dialogue between empirical political science, political sociology and political theory. Contributions are welcome on, but not limited to: clientelism and political brokerage; representation in informal or marginalized urban territories; party transformation and new intermediaries; and the politicization of collective identities.
The panel connects to the Congress theme of Uncertain Democracies by examining how democratic representation is being reshaped by new actors, informal practices, and changing relationships between citizens and institutions.