Die politische Anatomie demokratischer Reprasentation

In: Leviathan: Berliner Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft, Band 34, Heft 2, S. 149-181

Abstract

Does the idea of the "body politic" survive the death of the king? The answer usually given is "no." This article claims however that the "body politic" indeed lives on in modern democratic times. Nowadays it is the parliament which occupies the king's place. To substantiate this thesis the article discusses three questions: Why are members of parliament free from legal persecution? Why are parliamentary debates public? & why do initiatives end with the parliamentary term? The answers given are brief: parliamentary immunity refers to the notion of the inviolability & sanctity of the political body; via public debates democracy's two bodies speak with each other; & the principle of parliamentary discontinuity regulates birth, death & succession of the body politic in democratic times. Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.