On Political Representation

Abstract

Abstract Ambedkar conceived representation as an instrument to shift embedded domination to emancipatory possibilities. It must address the conditions of specific societies, and the political and institutional complexes in place, expressed in the memorable metaphor, ‘the coat must fit’. The emerging post-colonial dispensation in India was a matter of special concern. In plural societies, where there is an ethnic majority distinct from the ethnic minority/minorities, if representation is not sensitive to this social fact it may reproduce these very same relations in the political domain, reducing the latter permanently to subservience. Where relations between the majority and minority are open-ended, and there are close bonds between them, there could be joint representation with reservation to the minority, but where they are closed against one another, then the minority deserves separate representation. Ambedkar proposed a scheme of ‘cycles of participation’ to address the Adivasi concerns in India.