On Friday 27 March 2026, E.C. Yu will defend the doctoral thesis titled: Deliberative Representation in Formal Philosophy
- Promotor
- Co-promotor
- Date
- Friday 27 Mar 2026, 13:00 - 14:30
- Type
- PhD defence
- Space
- Senate Hall
- Building
- Erasmus Building
- Location
- Campus Woudestein
Below is a brief summary of the dissertation:
This thesis explores the legitimacy of political representation in deliberative democracies. More specifically, it investigates (i) how a system of proportional representation should be designed in a deliberative democracy, and (ii) what conditions should be met for deliberations among representatives to be democratically legitimate.
First, it is argued that a system of proportional representation that is fair to individuals is multidimensional. Two committee ranking procedures are then characterized to address the problem of plural identities and the problem of negative representation. Finally, a representative deliberation procedure is defined to justify representatives’ changing their minds away from those that they hold in common with their constituents, under certain conditions.
In doing so, the thesis contributes to fundamental debates in normative democratic theory and formal political theory on how the ideal of legitimate political outcomes are defined in representative deliberative democracies, and how systems of representative democracy and deliberative institutions are modelled.
- More information
The public defence will begin exactly at 13.00 hrs. The doors will be closed once the public defence starts, latecomers may be able to watch on the screen outside. There is no possibility of entrance during the first part of the ceremony. Due to the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.
A live stream link has been provided to the candidate.
