Description:This books examines the idea of representation and the institutional realities that shaped it in early modern Europe and European America. Contributors demonstrate how a country's history, society, and national experience dictate how representation is realized in political institutions, including Cortes, diets, parlements, parliaments, riksdags and reichstags. During the 16th and 17th centuries these assemblies were dissolved, recalled, reinvented, and reshaped by the experiences of absolute monarchy, civil war, and revolution. This collection reveals how these institutions were a critical component of state building.