Representativity is a measure of how well a deliberative decisionmaking process or body represents various constituency groups. It can be applied to legislatures in a representative democracy, election methods, legislative

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

, statistical sampling, or selection of members of

committees A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

cabinets A cabinet is a body of high-ranking state officials, typically consisting of the executive branch's top leaders. Members of a cabinet are usually called cabinet ministers or secretaries. The function of a cabinet varies: in some countrie ...

juries A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England durin ...

, or judicial panels. There is no single standard or formula on which everyone can agree, and much

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

leadership Leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group or organization to "lead", influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The word "leadership" often gets view ...

debate can develop among contending proposals for how best to design and conduct a body that is most representative, without impairing its ability to make timely decisions. It differs from the related concept of diversity in that it is not just about allowing many views to be heard, but also to exercise influence in rough proportion to their numbers.

Worldwide

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United States

In its federal system, U.S. senators represent entire states, but have equal votes in the

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

, whereas

U.S. representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

each represent a

single-member district A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vo ...

, as a matter of current established practice, the boundaries of which are drawn to include equal numbers of individuals based on the last

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

. Within the states, some elected officials such as the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

represent the entire state, while members of the houses of the

state legislatures A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United Stat ...

represent districts drawn to include equal numbers of individuals. Each of these systems of representation have a different level and kind of representativity.

References

*Faina Milman-Sivan
Representativity, Civil Society, and the EU Social Dialogue: Lessons from the International Labor Organization
Political terminology

Worldwide

United States

See also

References