Probleme politischer Repräsentation. Carlo Mongardini und der Beitrag der italienischen Politikwissenschaft

Abstract

To what extent does contemporary political science successfully approach political representation with regard to power – that is, in terms of a relationship of domination? The Italian sociologist and political scientist Carlo Mongardini (1938 – 2021) can be considered one of the last adherents of a “classical mindset” in Italian political science focusing on power, its configuration and allocation . For Mongardini political representation is “the highest political formula” that has emerged in modern history . It is, namely, the instrument par excellence by which the relationship of domination between the rulers and the ruled that emerged out of the end of the Ancien Régime takes place . Only a detailed analysis of such relationship’s transformations makes it possible to understand the contemporary challenges to political representation . Along with Mongardini, this paper aims to draw an analytical thread for the study of political representation as it summarizes its basic configuration and the central features of its transformation up to the present .