CIAO DATE: 05/2009
June 2008
European Centre for Minority Issues
Like the majority of modern states, non-recognized or de facto states are governed indirectly through elected representatives who are entrusted with the task of carrying out most of the functions of government. Issues of representation are central to an understanding of modern polities and have therefore generated substantial academic interest with regard to the identity and performance of representatives. Non-recognized states have largely been spared such detailed scrutiny of their domestic politics and patterns of representation, even though requests by these states for recognition draw increasingly on claims to democratically-secured genuine representation.
Resource link: Representation and Democracy in Eurasia's Unrecognized States: The Case of Transnistria [PDF] - 336K