About the lecture

In this first lecture we explore the origins of representation in politics. This discussion takes us from medieval Europe to the French Revolution, and eventually lands us at our modern system of elections. We consider both the theoretical underpinnings of representation, in which elite men often acted as representatives of the wider social body and brought grievances to the given monarch, and the more tangible form of representation that exists in modern representative democracies. This lecture also involves a discussion of how the institution of Parliament developed over time.

About the lecturer

Professor Andrew Blick has extensive experience working for think tanks in the UK Parliament and as an administrative assistant at No.10 Downing Street. He has advised democratic reform groups working in countries including Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and Ukraine; and the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance in Stockholm. From 2010-15 he was research fellow to the first ever parliamentary inquiry into the possibility of introducing a written constitution for the UK, carried out by the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee. In 2021 he began participation in an AHRC-funded project assessing the history of democracy from ancient times to the contemporary era, through considering written primary sources. He recently published ‘Electrified Democracy: the Internet and the United Kingdom Parliament in history’.