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Electoral institutions shape the incentive that elected representatives have to cultivate a personal vote, a geographically-concentrated personal vote in particular. But are electoral institutions able to make representatives do what they would not do otherwise and to make them not do what they otherwise would have done? Using data from the cross-national PARTIREP MP Survey, it is demonstrated that electoral institutions shape elected representatives' local orientation. Local orientation decreases as district magnitude grows - regardless of what representatives think about political representation. But representatives' conceptions of representation do shape their uptake in the legislative arena from their contacts with individual constituents. The effect of the electoral incentive grows stronger as elected representatives think of representation as a bottom-up rather than a top-down process. Adapted from the source document.

Women and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in national parliaments around the world. Interestingly, in the Netherlands ethnic minority women are better represented than ethnic minority men and ethnic majority women. The Netherlands did not adopt gender quotas, but some parties implemented target numbers. Drawing on document analysis and interviews, this article explores whether parties that encourage women's representation are also likely to increase the number of ethnic minority representatives. It finds that party-specific factors such as a left or social democratic ideology, the institutionalization of gender and/or ethnicity within the party and the party's vision on group representation are intertwined. Parties that actively encourage women's representation are more inclined to openly acknowledge the importance of ethnic diversity. This especially favours ethnic minority women, who benefit from the strong embedding of gender. In the end gender determines the success of the ethnic card in political representation. Adapted from the source document.

Corporatist opposition against a system of proportional representation in Belgium can essentially be reduced to the opposition by Joris Helleputte. Antiproportionalism was mainly due to a fear that proportionalism would endanger the growth of a Catholic corporatist party. In the struggle concerning introduction of proportional representation, 2 periods can be distinguished: before 1895 & after 1895, when Helleputte resigned as president of the Belgische Volksbond. Even after 1895 Helleputte continued his struggle, together with Charles Woeste. They proposed that Parliament institute a uninominal system, but this proposal did not receive sufficient support & proportional representation for legislative elections was introduced in 1899. Modified HA.

A review essay on books by (1) Jacques A. A. van Doorn, Duits socialisme. Het falen van de sociaal-democratie en de triomf van het nationaal-socialisme [German Socialism. The Failure of Social Democracy and the Triumph of National Socialism] Amsterdam: Mets & Schilt, 2007); (2) Cas Mudde, Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe (Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, 2007); & (3) Jan Blommaert, De Crisis van de Democratie. Commentaren op Actuele Politiek ([The Crisis of Democracy Comments on Contemporary Politics] Berchem: EPO, 2007).

Recently, scholars have propagated a 'claim-based' approach towards the study of women's substantive representation. In this article, we challenge the relativism of such a 'claim-based' approach and explore the relevance of the concept of 'responsiveness' as a democratic criterion. We do so, more specifically, through a study of Muslim women's substantive representation in the Flemish headscarf debate. We identify claims to speak for Muslim women formulated by (1) political parties and (2) Muslim women and (minority) women's associations and examine the congruence between their respective claims. The important incongruence found between the claims formulated by right-wing and liberal parties and those of Muslim women/women's associations provides empirical backing to the acclaimed relevance of a relational evaluation of women's substantive representation. We conclude that the criterion of responsiveness is invaluable because it allows us to evaluate if actors' claims to speak for women account for women's capacity to speak for themselves. Adapted from the source document.

Although women's right to vote was achieved seventy years ago in the Netherlands, their political representation is still limited. One strategy to elect more women to office is to found women's parties, nominating only women as candidates. In 1918 ten women's parties existed, as compared to two in 1989. Data from party documents, newspapers, & interviews with members (N not given) identify key policy goals, especially implementation of a feminist ideology stressing the differences between men & women in political values. Electoral success is not to be expected in terms of a campaign victory on the national level, but rather of advancing larger representation for women's interests & needs. 2 Tables, 28 References. Modified HA

The introduction of women's suffrage did not lead to their proportional representation in the Dutch parliament; by the 1980s women occupied only about 25% of the seats in both chambers. A review of the literature suggests that research on this underrepresentation has usually focused on individual & institutional characteristics; however, problems of child care, the labor market, & other factors can make the political system inaccessible to women. Moreover, the selection processes of the political parties impede women's political advancement: decentralized procedures tend to minimize women's chances, while the imposition of quotas increases the likelihood of election of women candidates. 4 Figures, 41 References. M. Meeks