I would like to talk about one of the most complex problems in modern democracies: the crisis of representation. There is no consensus about causes, consequences and solutions to this crisis, but every citizen in modern democracies strives for more and better political representation. Everyone wants to see members of parliament discuss the issues they consider most important.

I am not going to ask if representative democracy is the best option. This is an important question, I am sure, but I want to talk about possible initiatives to improve the representative system once this is the reality in the most of the democracies today.

On one hand, we have to admit that fighting for better representation is part of the democratic life. It’s a crisis, of course, but it’s necessary for the system to work well. New identities, new agendas, new problems always compete for public attention and for representation in the political system. This starting point is necessary to avoid overly pessimistic perspectives.

On the other hand, I think that something should be done to improve the political experience between citizens and their elected representatives. The first challenge is to understand what representatives can do and what they actually do in congress. If we look to mainstream media landscape, it’s hard to find news about representatives if he/she isn`t in a high position in the congress hierarchy.

To address this problem, some Brazilian researchers from Pontifical Catholic University-Rio de Janeiro (led by Professor Arthur Ituassu) created a webpage to organize information about federal deputies [representatives in the Brazilian lower house: Câmara dos Deputados or Chamber of Deputies].

Named O que fez seu Deputado [What has your deputy done], the webpage is simple, but fast and easy to use. On the site, you can find a short bio of the deputy, what bills he/she voted for or against, attendance, speeches, bills drafted and parliamentary committees that the deputy is engaged in. The project covers only deputies from Rio de Janeiro.

Although the data available on this website is already public in other places, this is a particularly helpful tool because citizens can access a variety of information about what deputies are doing in a single page. So they can compare the deputies’ activities. Everyone knows that having good sources of information to make decisions is fundamental for a healthy democracy. So, during elections, this project can help people evaluate what is the best choice, if the deputies who she/he voted for in the past did a good job or if it’s better chose someone else.

Having more information about what deputies did isn’t groundbreaking, but I think this is the first step. If citizens know what exactly their representatives have done, they can chose better during elections and express their opinions in the public sphere or directly to their representatives. The next step is create additional ways for individuals or groups (social lobby) to pressure representatives and governments – there is already some innovative tools with we can do it (Avaaz.com).

I know that O que fez seu Deputado isn`t the solution, but I am sure this is a simple and effective tool that can help people learn more about their representatives. The challenge is to improve the relationship between political systems and citizens as this is a fundamental pillar of modern democracies.