People’s sense of political representation and national stories: The case of Israel
| Published date | 01 September 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/01925121231185576 |
| Author | Yael R Kaplan,Tamir Sheafer,Israel Waismel-Manor,Shaul R Shenhav |
| Date | 01 September 2024 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/01925121231185576
International Political Science Review
2024, Vol. 45(4) 552 –567
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/01925121231185576
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People’s sense of political
representation and national
stories: The case of Israel
Yael R Kaplan
University of Haifa, Israel
Tamir Sheafer
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Israel Waismel-Manor
University of Haifa, Israel
Shaul R Shenhav
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Abstract
Previous research on political representation mainly focused on representatives but has overlooked
individuals’ sense of inclusion within the greater group: the nation. Building on narrative theory, we propose a
novel mechanism that fosters a feeling of political representation—a similarity between individuals’ personal-
national stories and the collective-national metanarrative of the polity. Metanarratives are shared dominant
stories that present a community with desirable social conventions. While they seek to represent the
nation, metanarratives are not entirely inclusive and do not appeal to all citizens. We argue that individuals
who do internalize the metanarrative feel more represented. To demonstrate our theoretical expectations,
we use election surveys and constitutive texts to capture national stories and metanarratives. We find that
indeed respondents whose national story is closer to a nation's metanarrative feel more represented by the
political system.
Keywords
Political representation, national identity, national stories, metanarratives, story similarity, collective
representation
Corresponding author:
Yael R Kaplan, Department of Government and Political Theory Division, School of Political Science, University of Haifa,
199 Aba Khoushy Ave, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel.
Email: yael.kaplan@mail.huji.ac.il
1185576IPS0010.1177/01925121231185576International Political Science ReviewKaplan et al.
research-article2023
Original Research Article
Kaplan et al. 553
Political representation is central to contemporary politics. It underlies political membership and
reduces the alienation of excluded groups from the political sphere. Most attempts to measure
political representation focus on the actions and claims of the representatives, giving limited atten-
tion to people’s sense of representation. This study examines whether citizens’ sense of representa-
tion is associated with their sense of belonging to shared symbolic groups such as their ‘nation.’
This question is investigated empirically using narrative theories, primarily the concept of metan-
arrative, to examine how the degree of relatedness between elite-national stories and citizen stories
is related to a sense of representation.
National stories can foster a sense of belonging and highlight the interface between the indi-
vidual and the collective. They administer a common sense of who we are, and define who belongs
to the group and who is excluded from it (Patterson and Monroe, 1998). We therefore ask, can simi-
larity between the national story, as told by the individual, and the collective national story, as told
by the elite, predict a greater sense of political representation?
To address this issue, we draw on a theoretical framework developed in social psychology and
rooted in narrative literature, which focuses on the meeting point between the individual and soci-
ety. It examines how personal stories are narrated in relation to the broader context of metanarra-
tives. According to McLean et al. (2018), metanarratives are ‘culturally shared stories that provide
frameworks within which individuals can locate and story their own experiences’ (p. 633). They
present members of the community with desirable social conventions for them to internalize or
resist and often restrain and shape the views and actions of individuals (Bamberg, 2004).
In a national context, political elites present the metanarrative in various ways, such as constitu-
tive texts, national anthems, and major political speeches. Individuals are asked to appropriate the
metanarrative into their personal stories (Hammack, 2008). Internalizing the metanarrative can
signify a perception of the nation as a ‘natural’ group of belonging and indicate that those who feel
they belong to the nation will also see themselves as a visible part of the community. Consequently,
we argue, those who share similarities with the national metanarrative are more likely to feel rep-
resented. However, while metanarratives are designed to represent the nation, they are not entirely
inclusive and do not necessarily appeal to all citizens. Thus, those with personal stories that do not
align with the metanarrative tell less ‘valued’ stories and are more marginalized in society (McLean
et al., 2018). Therefore, these individuals are more likely to feel less represented.
This article contributes to our understanding of representation by offering an innovative expla-
nation of what underlies it. It has theoretical and methodological implications as we suggest that a
sense of representation can be explained not only through the representatives (whether in relation
to their actions or claims), but it is also manifested through the idea of an association with the
nation as an object of affiliation.
The article is organized in three main parts. First, we establish the theoretical relevance of met-
anarratives to the concept of representation and employ a systematic method to analyze it. Second,
we derive empirical evidence for the relationship between personal stories, the national metanarra-
tive, and the effect of similarity between them on individuals’ sense of representation. Focusing on
the Israeli case, we develop and validate a coding scheme that captures national stories and the
metanarrative through open-ended election survey questions and the constitutive text of the state.
The results validate an additional explanatory parameter above and beyond known explanations, as
they show that greater similarity is positively correlated with a greater sense of representation. We
conclude by discussing the theoretical implications of our findings.
Political representation, stories, and metanarratives
Political representation is a central yet abstracted concept, widely discussed in the academic com-
munity, and various definitions have been offered. For example, Pitkin (1967) views political
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