Abstract

The Author underlines how it is possible to describe the representativeness task performed by parliaments as functional to the representantion of the general, or political, interests of the represented. This function explains the historical link between political representation and citizenship, and ultimately helps to understand the actual crisis of the representative political system. The political representation faces in fact a crisis with the passage from the liberal to the democratic state, with the emergence of conflicts between the interests represented. Even the important role played by mass parties was able contrast the crisis of the representation only during an early stage. The essay later discusses other causes of a broader crisis of the political representative system, and then turn the attention to the connection between the representative function and accountability issues. In the final part of the essay, the Author describes some peculiarities of the Italian political system during the istitutional transition.