Suchergebnisse

In light of the long histories of racial violence, discrimination, and organized protest by racial and ethnic minority groups in established democracies, it is imperative to examine how minority groups can achieve greater voice in the regular channels of the democratic process. In this paper we compare the inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities in political parties and the national legislatures of the U.S. and Britain. There are few previous comparative studies on this topic, and the broad comparative literature on numerical representation often focuses on theories of socialization and increasing the pool of applicants. We examine an influence that previous scholars have often neglected: the role of political parties in shaping minority representation. We highlight some conditions under which minority groups may achieve gains. Certain political and institutional 'opportunity structures' create incentives for under-represented groups to pursue top-down or bottom up strategies in their efforts for democratic inclusion.

Radical right populist (RRP) parties are often described as Männerparteien, predominantly led by, represented by, and supported by men. Yet recently, these parties have elected more women. Under what conditions do we see this increase in women MPs? This paper presents a novel argument of strategic descriptive representation: electorally struggling RRP parties with large gender gaps in voter support increase their proportion of women MPs to attract previously untapped women voters. To test this argument, we develop the most comprehensive dataset to date on women MPs and gender differences in voter support across Europe and over time, covering 187 parties in 30 countries from 1985 to 2018. Our analyses confirm that RRP parties engage in strategic descriptive representation when they are both struggling electorally and suffering from a gender gap in support. Additional models reveal that this tactic is largely unique to RRP parties.