Assuming from the very beginning that contemporary democracies cannot work without active parliaments, this article deals with the recurrent image of the "crisis of representation" of the modern State, that is, with the latter's alleged difficulties to fulfill some of the strategic roles demanded by complex societies in recent times. I contend that the problems of legitimacy in today's political systems are linked with the crisis of the State triggered by the new economic and social structures of contemporary capitalism. According to my hypothesis, the transformations of capitalist society - i.e., of hypermodernity - jeopardized and bypassed representation, which is now facing serious operational issues.
representation; democracy; State; politics; parliament