Who Elected PETA? The Informal Representation of Animals - Talk with Q&A

Various actors within animal scholarship and activism have recently argued that animals should be represented in policy decisions that affect their lives. As such, we can now analyse and evaluate various different institutional proposals that aim to incorporate animal interests effectively. While this 'representative turn' is important and to be welcomed, thus far it has focused mainly on 'formal' representation - that is, representatives speaking or acting on behalf of animals through some systematised selection procedure (like elections). But animal interests are already and will continue to be represented politically via informal mechanisms: that is, when individuals and groups are regarded as speaking or acting on behalf of animals when they have not been formally selected to do so. Scholarship in democratic theory points out that such informal representation can be a double-edged sword: it is often crucial for the most politically marginalised and excluded groups, but it also raises important questions about accountability and effectiveness. This talk offers an initial exploration of what these debates mean for the informal representation of animals, with the hope of doing some tentative groundwork for how such representation might be improved.