Accountability and political representation of national minorities: a forgotten link? Evidence from Romania
Publisher: ECMI Volume: 25 pages, pdf Description: One of the dilemmas posed by descriptive representation is whether it might generate an excessive focus on who the representative is, rather than on what s/he does, thus foregoing the importance of substantive representation. As such, various scholars have argued that descriptive representation needs an accountability mechanism to ensure that the representative does indeed pursue the interests of the minority group s/he represents. In this respect, most academic analyses agree that elections represent the most important mechanism of accountability.