Aan de randen van de democratietheorie. Groepsrepresentatie in de ondernemingsraad

Abstract

At the borders of democracy theory. In political theory, descriptive representation as a corrective to structural asymmetries within society is usually debated against the background of formal political institutions. In this paper it is discussed as a means to enhance the declining legitimacy of Dutch works councils as important sites of democratic decision-making in their own rights. The aim is to show that the moral requirements of democratic inclusion have to be weighed against the functional requirements of effective representation, conducting that in some cases the costs in terms of effectiveness exceed the gains in terms of inclusiveness. Hence, the debate of descriptive representation is clearly in need of a more contextualised assessment of its pros and cons.