Representing Interests - Standing-for or Acting-for? The Impact of Descriptive Characteristics of Legislators on Substantive and Symbolic Interest Representation Under Institutional Contraints. Comparing the US Congress and the German Bundestag.

The article presents an analysis of the impact of personal characteristics of legislators in the United States and Germany on their decision-making behavior. In contrast to existing studies, it is not limited to the analysis of one specific aspect, such as a legislator's gender or ethnic background. Instead, it takes a comprehensive approach by looking at a variety of characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, class, professional expertise and single traumatic events. Taking institutional contexts into account, the article focuses on political representation in the light of personally motivated agendas of decision-makers. The findings suggest a complex connection of substantive, descriptive and symbolic representation. As such, the article presents a re-discovery of the multidimensionality Hanna Pitkin stressed in her treatment on the concept of representation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]