Suchergebnisse

Around the world, states are grappling with how to integrate minority communities into social, economic and political life. Increasingly, calls have come from academics and minority community leaders for the creation of guaranteed descriptive representation institutions, designed to secure permanent descriptive representation for marginalized minority communities in the legislative branch. Communally reserved legislative seats are one of the more commonly used institutions to provide such guaranteed representation. Under this system, legislative seats are set aside for the representation of minority interests.This system is now found in more than 20 states around the world, with many of these states adopting the system after the end of the Cold War. To date, most research on this type of guaranteed descriptive representation institution has utilized single case-studies. One of the most consistent findings in this research has been that communal reservations seem to have little to no impact on the policy-preference attainment of minority communities. This finding contradicts a theoretical literature that argues that providing a political presence for communities should translate into increased policy influence for the targeted communities.This project posits a theory as to why there is a discrepancy between theory and evidence in this case. I argue that, rather than an anomaly, the lack of policy-influence for communities provided with communal reservations is a feature of the system. The creation of special, minority-targeted electoral districts I believe causes a bifurcation of the political system. Instead of having a national political conversation about ethnicity and difference, the creation of communal reservations allows mainstream political actors to essentially ignore minority concerns, passing them off as the domain of minority representatives alone. The electoral incentives associated with campaigning for minority voters are minimized as a result of the special constituency.In order to justify the hypotheses I establish about the relationship between communal reservations and policy-influence, I conduct a plausibility probe in the state of Croatia. Using a combination of elite interviews, media analysis and electoral analysis, I show that, at least for within Croatia, communal reservations seem to be limiting the policy influence of minority community leaders, as I predicted. One of the key causes of this, according to my research, is a decision among mainstream political parties and actors to remain effectively silent on minority issues. To establish the generalizability of the theory, I conduct two tests. First, I provide evidence that shows that, systematically, turnout in communally reserved districts is substantially lower than the national average, which I argue indicates low levels of engagement and/or satisfaction among minority community members. Next, I look at coalition participation rates among small parties in Europe, and find that ethnic parties elected through reserved districts are substantially less likely to participate in governing coalitions than other parties, even accounting for party size. I believe this is because the design of communal reservation systems creates disincentives for coalition-building with ethnic minority parties.This research has two major implications. The first is that, as an tool for providing representation for minority communities, communal reservations are a poor choice. If anything, this institutional design may exacerbate inter-ethnic tensions. More broadly, the findings suggest that, while descriptive representation may provide benefits, guaranteeing descriptive representations may create negative externalities for which at present we have not accounted.

While the election of racial/ethnic minority lawmakers has diversified American legislative institutions, scholars continue to find evidence of racial backlash in public policy decisions. This seems to undermine the Madisonian conception of the ability of minority interests to offset majoritarian resentment through representation and raises the question, Can minority group representatives influence policy decisions in majoritarian institutions? Using evidence from the American states, this study shows that the fastest-growing ethnic minority group, Latinos, do benefit from descriptive representation, as increases in Latino representation and legislative incorporation offset the negative effects of Latino population size on social welfare policy.

Does the representation of women in cabinet and party leadership positions affect whether governments are more or less likely to fulfill the policy promises they make during election campaigns? This research note studies the effects of women's descriptive representation in cabinet and party leadership on policymaking by analyzing the pledge fulfillment of parties in 10 European countries, the United States, and Canada. The empirical analysis suggests that governing parties are more likely to fulfill their election promises when levels of women's representation are higher. The results have implications for our understanding of the descriptive and substantive representation of women, as well as for party competition and policymaking more broadly.

For this article, I built on previous studies of representation by exploring the potential positive and negative impacts of descriptive representation in the policy process. Specifically, I examined the influence of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered (LGBT) state legislators on the amount and types of LGBT‐related state legislation introduced from 1992 to 2002. My findings suggest that higher LGBT representation in state legislatures leads to greater substantive representation. The results also suggest, however, that descriptive representation is associated with the amount of anti‐LGBT legislation introduced. Additional analysis reveals that the net policy influence of increased LGBT representation is positive for the LGBT community.

It is often assumed that women's descriptive representation is higher at the local level than at the state or federal level. However, recent studies challenge this perceived pattern. Therefore, several alternative patterns of inter-level gender gaps in female representation across political levels are systematically introduced. Zooming in on the state-local gender gap, a number of explanations as to why such a gender gap can emerge are hypothesized. And the case of the U.S. is used to illustrate how women sometimes fare relatively better at state than local election.

Though many studies have focused on African Americans' turnout levels in descriptively represented electoral districts, few have examined the composition of African‐American turnout in these districts, compared to districts that are not descriptively represented. This study contends that descriptive representation should conditionally affect African Americans' political participation, given preference heterogeneity among this group. It then examines the extent to which the ideological orientations of African Americans condition the effect of their Representative's race in the 104th House on their probability of participating in the 1996 national election. The study finds that when liberal African Americans are descriptively represented, they are more likely to vote, while moderate and conservative African Americans are less likely to vote. These findings not only help to resolve prior studies' disparate conclusions concerning descriptive representation's participatory effects, but they also show that descriptive representation affects which African Americans' interests are communicated to elected officials through voting.

AbstractThis study explores how American Indians use interest group strategies to block federal legislation. Unlike other disadvantaged groups, who have influenced public policymaking through descriptive representation, American Indians have turned to interest group strategies to protect their interests in Congress. Using original data collected from American Indian testimony at congressional hearings on 266 bills during five Congresses, this study tests interest group hypotheses about how and when active opposition affects bill enactment. It finds that American Indians can block federal legislation harmful to their interests when they unify against a bill and that members of Congress frequently respond to American Indian opposition by amending bills to alleviate American Indian concerns.

AbstractWhile a number of studies demonstrate that black candidates have the ability to increase black political participation, a growing literature is investigatingwhydescriptive representation matters. This paper contributes to this discussion by exploring whether perceptions of candidate traits play a mediating role between the presence of an African American candidate on the ballot and increases in black political activity. I test this trait hypothesis using data from the 1992–2012 American National Election Study, a survey experiment, and statistical mediation analysis. The results indicate that perceptions of black candidates as being better leaders, more empathetic, knowledgeable, intelligent, honest, and moral explain a substantial amount of why descriptive representation increases black political participation across a range of different political activities. In the conclusion, I discuss the importance of the psychological link between blacks and their co-racial representatives in inspiring higher levels of political participation.