Can riots represent? A democratic theory

Abstract Political theory has been perennially concerned with interrogating, identifying, and clarifying the political functions of riots. Yet, political theorists have mostly fallen short of explaining the relationship between riots and democracy, although this is central to the democratic theory of contestation and crucial for evaluating the potential values of riots in democracy. I examine the question of riots and democracy through the lens of political representation. Using testimonies from rioters, I explore the disruptive, affirmative, and representational dimensions of riots. I contend that riots can be viewed as a form of political representation in which a self‐constituting subject puts forward claims to an audience on behalf of others and of themselves, showing that riots may sometimes represent a spontaneous and temporary collective subject speaking in the name of others. This underscores the democratic potential of riots to assert a presence that, while short‐lived, is central to the act of representing.