Ethnic minority MPs as reputational shields? How Western European political parties respond to public opinion shifts on immigration policy
Marc van de Wardt,
Maria Sobolewska,
Patrick English
Abstract:In recent decades, representation of ethnic minorities increased significantly across Europe, while concurrently many political parties moved to the right on multiculturalism and immigration, a seeming paradox. We explain it by arguing that often it is the same parties that move to the right and simultaneously increase representation. They use this dual strategy in an attempt to positionally converge to the median voter, where the increased minority representation acts as a reputational shield to prevent alleg… Show more
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