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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

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

Politicians worldwide are positively selected in terms of income. But does the distribution of income affect the degree of overrepresentation? Mounting evidence suggests a link between economic inequality and an upper-income bias in various forms of political representation, such as policy responsiveness and turnout. This paper provides the first study of the association between income inequality and descriptive political representation by income. I explore how politicians' income levels relate to income inequality using Swedish register data covering the universe of municipal politicians from 1982–2014. A common hypothesis posits that income inequality concentrates political power to top-income earners and therefore demobilizes citizens with low incomes from political engagement. I find no support for this hypothesis. Rather, higher income inequality is associated with better descriptive representation by income. Left parties mainly drive this, as they appear to mobilize low-income segments of the populationwith higher income inequality.

The European Parliament is often praised for its gender-equal composition and its high descriptive representation of women. However, there is a remarkable gender gap between the representation of women at the national and European level, and it is debated how these variations can be explained. After discussing theories of representation and reviewing data from the European Parliament on the share of women in national delegations and the political groups in the 9th European Parliament after Brexit, this paper evaluates whether institutional and contextual factors can explain the gender gap between the national and supranational level. It argues that the representation of women cannot be sufficiently explained by the institutional rules. Instead, ambitious national rules in some member states and the parties' role as gatekeepers can explain the high representation of women. These findings have implications for promoting gender equality in politics in the EU.

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.

Defence date: 13 December 2011 ; Examining Board: Professor Mark Franklin (EUI, Supervisor) Professor Joni Lovenduski (University of London, External Co-Supervisor) Professor Mona Lena Krook (Washington University in St. Louis) Professor Fabrizio Bernardi (EUI) ; First made available online 3 April 2019 ; Most of the studies on political underrepresentation have tried to explain the factors that account for the underrepresentation of some groups in political power. The present research project focuses on the link between descriptive and symbolic representation and seeks to understand what consequences a more proportional political environment produces on the attitudes of both underrepresented and overrepresented groups towards the political system. Women remain among the least politically represented groups and therefore this project focuses on and analyses them in various political positions. Two dimensions of the relationship between citizens and politics are analysed: the level of political engagement and the evaluation of the political system. While there is a clear gender gap in the former, the same does not apply to the latter. This dissertation reaches three important achievements. The first one is to develop the first theoretical framework of the potential causal mechanisms that are likely to operate behind the impact that female politicians have on both women and men. The second is to show that men can indeed be positively influenced but mainly to clarify that the way they evaluate the political system is nearly the only way they are affected – their level of political engagement does not change. The third achievement is to show that, while most scholarship has been focusing on the topic political involvement, the presence of female politicians seems to be more connected to the way women evaluate the political system. This means that the 'role model effect' is not the main mechanism at work here. Instead, the idea that the presence of women is necessary to represent women's interests and the fact that they are seen as bringing something new into the political world appear more influential factors. Altogether the signs of the impact of the presence of female politicians are modest.

This contribution elaborates on the role model function of descriptive representatives. We seek to elaborate on potentially negative effects of role models, as we think they can endanger a feminist project of dismantling hierarchical power relations. When society attributes descriptive representatives the position of role models, the former no longer simply stand for their groups in a socio-demographic manner. Role models also stand for them in an exemplary manner, allowing them to prescribe a set of appropriate or desirable traits and behaviours. The presence and performance of role models, thus, powerfully shapes the context to the representation of disadvantaged groups. Because of their exemplary function, the personal experiences and life trajectory of descriptive representatives may be elevated to a standard; potentially causing the interests and demands of other group members to be considered abnormal or marginal. Also, role models may, paradoxically, promote exclusion. Representatives' social differences provide them with powerful symbolic resources to speak on behalf of their group. While such authority may help them put previously overlooked interests on the agenda, their personal take on things may limit the terms of the debate, as it cuts out alternative intersections of social positions; making it difficult to voice alternative group perspectives. In this regard, role models may hamper the feminist project which precisely implies giving voice to excluded groups so as to broaden the range of voices articulated.

Successive studies have found a persistent gender gap in political knowledge. Despite much international research, this gap has remained largely impervious to explanation. A promising line of recent inquiry has been the low levels of women's elected representation in many democracies. We test the hypothesis that higher levels of women's elected representation will increase women's political knowledge. Using two large, comparative data sets, we find that the proportion of women elected representatives at the time of the survey has no significant effect on the gender gap. By contrast, there is a strong and significant long‐term impact for descriptive representation when respondents were aged 18 to 21. The results are in line with political socialization, which posits that the impact of political context is greatest during adolescence and early adulthood. These findings have important implications not only for explaining the gender knowledge gap, but also for the impact of descriptive representation on political engagement generally.

Although the presence of women has been increasing in several parliaments around the world, we still do not know much about the consequences that their presence has for policy representation. Relying on a rich comparative dataset on prospective MPs' policy preferences in 12 countries and 87 political parties collected between 2006 and 2012 within the Comparative Candidates Survey, this article aims to understand how political parties interplay with prospective MPs' sex to affect the latter's policy preferences. Our results show that the descriptive representation of women makes a difference for policy representation, (i) mainly (though not only) when issues that particularly affect women are at stake and (ii) only concerning issues around which political parties do not yet have settled positions (i.e. uncrystallized issues). There are therefore empirical grounds to support an imposed representation of minority groups to deal with issues that are new on the political agenda. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion

This article argues that descriptive representation, or demographic similarities between legislators and the public, can provide effective substantive representation of citizens' concerns. We examine representation through the lens of opinion congruence or alignment in the policy preferences of legislators and citizens sharing various identities. Congruence may result from shared material interests or from self-selection into an identity group on the basis of policy views, but it can also be a product of networks and organizations that socialize masses and elites into a common worldview. Though political parties were historically the most important agents of political socialization, we argue that religious organizations constitute a more powerful socializing force in many new democracies. Examining the case of Brazil, we draw on three legislative surveys and fifteen mass surveys to analyze congruence across seven issue areas. Legislators and voters from underrepresented groups—women, Afro-Brazilians, evangelical Christians, and those of lower social class—are generally closer in their opinions than those sharing a party or electoral district. Evangelicals are often the most congruent. Analyzing original surveys of congregations and clergy, we argue that this finding results from the socializing role of churches. ResumenSustentamos o argumento de que a representação descritiva, definida como semelhanças demográficas entre os legisladores e o público, pode fornecer uma representação substantiva efetiva das visões políticas dos cidadãos. Examinamos a representação por meio da lente da congruência de opinião, ou seja o alinhamento entre as preferências políticas dos legisladores e as dos cidadãos que compartilham suas identidades. A congruência pode resultar de interesses materiais comuns ou de auto-seleção a um grupo de identidade, mas também pode ser produto de socialização dentro de redes e organizações que constroem uma visão de mundo comum. Embora os partidos políticos fossem historicamente os agentes mais importantes de socialização política, argumentamos que as organizações religiosas constituem uma força de socialização mais poderosa em muitas novas democracias. Examinando o caso do Brasil, utilizamos três pesquisas legislativas e quinze pesquisas com o público para analisar a congruência em sete áreas de opinião. Legisladores e eleitores de grupos sub-representados — mulheres, afro-brasileiros, evangélicos e pessoas de classes sociais mais baixas — são geralmente mais próximos em suas opiniões do que aqueles que compartilham um partido ou distrito eleitoral. Evangélicos são frequentemente os mais congruentes. Analisando pesquisas originais com fiéis e clérigos, argumentamos que essa congruência resulta da função socialização das igrejas.

The series of ethnic conflicts in the Western Balkans over the 1990s involved primarily the constituent nations of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Serbs, Croats, Bosniaks, and later, Albanians and Macedonians. Ethnic violence has equally affected other numerically smaller groups residing in the geographic areas affected by conflict between the dominant, de facto state-founding ethnic groups. The paper investigates the continuous importance of ethnic identity for political participation of non-dominant groups affected by the ethno-political dynamics of dominant groups in post-conflict Croatia. Analyses of the political mobilisation of non-dominant groups in regions previously affected by conflict offer evidence that their ethno-political mobilisation reflects the continuous importance of identity-politics in the context of highly ethnicised institutions ensuring political representation at national and municipal levels.

As governments tackle the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, both the role of women in governments and the specific effect of the pandemic on women have come under scrutiny. This research note examines the descriptive representation of women in the U.K. government's response to the coronavirus. It finds that 43% of the government's daily press briefings featured an all-male lineup with no female politician or expert present. In particular, female politicians are missing, with only one female cabinet member ever leading the briefing. Women's (in)visibility raises concerns about the legitimacy of democratic decisions and likely has policy consequences: women's absence may exacerbate gendered inequalities resulting from the crisis.

This study offers a more nuanced look at the findings regarding procedural voice and influence by considering the context created by descriptive representation. Procedural justice researchers have long argued that giving people more of a voice in decision-making proceedings leads to heightened satisfaction with the outputs of that process and enhanced compliance with decisions. More recently, this concept has been applied to the political arena with the finding that voice alone is not enough. A voice that is not perceived to have an influence can be more detrimental than not having a voice at all.

With the devolved institutions nearing their 20th anniversary, the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly have changed the face of politics within the United Kingdom. The National Assembly for Wales, in particular, has made extensive advances in the field of female representation, notably being the first devolved legislature to achieve perfect gender parity. However, the question remains as to whether this parity was achieved through luck or design. This dissertation draws on the work of Pitkin to identify the importance of the relationship between both substantive and descriptive representation and then explores the concepts and contemporary academia to identify the leading theories within this field. The National Assembly will then be analysed in order to establish the measures that have been put in place by the institution in order to protect and promote a commitment to the equality of representation. Four political parties within the National Assembly for Wales will be assessed including the Welsh Labour Party, Welsh Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives drawing on evidence from 1999–2016. Both chapters will draw upon semi-structured interviews conducted with the Diversity and Inclusion Team and female Assembly Members from across political parties in order to allow for conclusions to be drawn as to what the most influential factors have been in the success of the National Assembly's female representation, and whether the Assembly has been successful due to luck or design.

This chapter constitutes the first attempt at examining the extent to which the diversity represented in Iberian legislatures reflects the existing diversity in the population, a crucial dimension on which to evaluate the quality of democracy. Drawing on original biographical data of MPs, our survey of diversity looks at gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality and ableness, and it pays attention to the intersection of gender with these markers of identity. The results show that, whereas women's presence has significantly increased in the last decade, the other minority groups remain remarkably underrepresented. Crossparty differences are rather small, with the exception of the tendency for left-wing parties to include more LGBT MPs and younger MPs. Our exploratory analysis also indicates that gender interacts with the above mentioned markers of identity in specific ways. Men MPs outnumber women MPs in all social groups (migrant origin and ethnic minority, LGBT, and disability) but youth. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersion