The multiple self in democracy: representation, identity, and intensity

Abstract

This article presents and critically discusses key ideas from Hans Asenbaum’s The Politics of Becoming, highlighting their significance for contemporary democratic thought. It examines the distinctive combination of theories and approaches that shape Asenbaum’s work, and explores his contribution to rethinking the concept and normative foundations of descriptive representation–specifically, what it might mean to secure the presence of a far more complex multiple self in democratic life today. Finally, the article extends Asenbaum’s notion of the multiple self to include the variety of political intensities that each individual carries.