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AbstractDrawing on the descriptive representation literature, we argue that religious identity is a social identity similar to gender or race, which leads a person to feel represented by someone who shares their religious identity. We argue that religious identity motivates approbation for public officials that is distinct from partisanship. We find that constituents who share the religious identity of their congressional representatives are significantly more likely to approve of their representative's performance in office. In addition, those who share a religious identity with President Obama are more trusting of him; particularly among those for whom religion is important. Finally, we find that shared religious identity moderates the relationship between partisanship and trust in the President. All else equal, Republicans who share a religious identity with President Obama are 500% more likely to trust him than a Republican who does not.

This dissertation studies the descriptive (i.e. numeric) representation of women in national parliaments in three related but independent papers. The empirical analysis presented in the papers is based on two original data sets. The first, macro level data set covers the democratic elections of 75 nations between the years 1980 and 2010. A subset of these data covering the OECD nations is augmented to include a set of socioeconomic variables that were not available for other countries. The second data set is a collection of candidate data from six Estonian elections between the years 1992 and 2011. The papers use a variety of quantitative techniques to support the theoretical claims made in them. ; TARA (Trinity?s Access to Research Archive) has a robust takedown policy. Please contact us if you have any concerns: rssadmin@tcd.ie

Representation is crucial for democracy: good representation helps to increase responsiveness, foster electoral turnout, increase political interest and include minorities. However, what good representation should be is debated. In this contribution we distinguish the substantive and the descriptive approach of representation. While the two forms start from different normative assumptions, they both suggest the same impact of high degrees of representation: increased political interest, higher electoral participation and better minority inclusion. We examine the degree of representation of cantonal citizens in the Swiss national parliament. Our results suggest that the cantons differ concerning substantive and descriptive representation. The two forms seem to be mutually exclusive. Testing for the different impacts, the results suggest a better performance of descriptive representation fostering political interest and weakening the attenuating impact of gender on the formation of political interest. Our contribution should be understood as a tentative draft for a more in-depth analysis of political representation in Switzerland. Adapted from the source document.

This article broadens consideration of the gender gap from voting differ ences to the larger question of affective preferences for descriptive represen tation (Pitkin 1967). The results, based on a 1993 survey of 416 individuals, suggest that women are far more likely than men to be "gender conscious" in their evaluation of a candidate or a preferred representative. Differences among the 224 women in the sample can be traced to at least four sources. Group interests and feminist attitudes are positive sources of women's preferences for descriptive representation. Conversely, conservative political views deter some women from supporting women in politics. The results also provide partial support for Carroll's (1987) psychological and economic autonomy thesis. Finally, the results suggest that in part the "gender gap" may be a generational gap most prevalent among "baby boomers." ; Yes ; https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guidelines

Representation is crucial for democracy: good representation helps to increase responsiveness, foster electoral turnout, increase political interest and include minorities. However, what good representation should be is debated. In this contribution we distinguish the substantive and the descriptive approach of representation. While the two forms start from different normative assumptions, they both suggest the same impact of high degrees of representation: increased political interest, higher electoral participation and better minority inclusion. We examine the degree of representation of cantonal citizens in the Swiss national parliament. Our results suggest that the cantons differ concerning substantive and descriptive representation. The two forms seem to be mutually exclusive. Testing for the different impacts, the results suggest a better performance of descriptive representation fostering political interest and weakening the attenuating impact of gender on the formation of political interest. Our contribution should be understood as a tentative draft for a more in‐depth analysis of political representation in Switzerland.

Today political theorists and the public generally often associate descriptive representation with democracy. However, in Victorian Britain supporters of descriptive representation tended to be arrayed against democracy. The impression that democracy was incompatible with descriptive representation and a set of related values, primary among which was deliberation, formed one of the great obstacles which democratic theory faced in this period. These values belonged to a traditional theory of representation which held that Parliament ought to be a mirror of the nation in its diversity and which judged democracy, in contrast, to be an illiberal mode of regulating the franchise because it risked handing the representation wholly to one part or class within society. In response to this school of thought, democratic theory developed two conflicting responses: first, that democracy could accommodate social and ideological diversity; second, that democracy was irreconcilable with the goal of mirroring diversity, but that nevertheless democracy had to be preferred on grounds of fairness and non-arbitrariness.

Today there is a wealth of research on women's legislative representation and the factors contributing to it. For example, proportional representation in large multi-member districts and an egalitarian political culture are commonly associated with high rates of women's representation. However, in the developing world findings are less solid and there is little consensus on the salience of various explanatory variables (for example, political culture or electoral system type) on women's descriptive representation. In this article, I explore the possibility that the divergent findings that characterise the discipline stem from the different dynamics at work in developed and developing countries. My results indicate that development by itself has a positive and significant impact on the percentage of female representatives. Development also interacts with other variables (for example, women's participation in the workforce and quotas) in determining the level of women's representation.