Growing numbers, growing influence? A comparative study of policy congruence between parliaments and citizens of immigrant origin

Abstract

A large set of research argues that policy responsiveness towards excluded societal factions such as minorities of immigrant origin improves through the presence of group members in parliaments because they bring forward different perspectives during parliamentary debates. This article challenges the straightforwardness of this relationship by demonstrating that the ability of legislators with immigrant backgrounds to shift the parliamentary agenda closer to the ideal points of citizens of foreign descent is conditional on two factors. First, representatives of immigrant origin need incentives to cultivate a personal vote, and second, their overall proportion of parliamentary seats has to remain rather marginal to influence the policy positions of the majority of representatives. The article's findings thus stress the importance of studying the contextual factors that moderate the relationship between group belonging and the capacity to promote group interests. Empirical evidence from nine European Democracies between 2002 and 2014 substantiates this argument – so that the analysis constitutes the first cross‐country comparison in a research field that has so far been dominated by single country studies. By using policy congruence as a measure for responsiveness, this article shifts the focal point from individual representatives’ attempts to promote the interests of citizens with immigrant backgrounds towards effectiveness of these endeavours.

Regional and Ethnic Minorities

“…Furthermore, minority representatives are more likely to act for immigrants if they represent a constituency with a relatively large share of minorities (Wüst and Saalfeld 2011). These findings are in line with the results by Kroeber (2018) who showed that substantive representation is more likely when group membership of the politicians and the composition of their constituency align, and Hänni (2018) who examined ethnic and regional minorities more broadly. In a comparative study, Hänni (2018) showed that presence in legislative chambersdescriptive representation -does not necessarily lead to substantive representation of ethnic and regional minorities.…”

When Do Men Represent Women’s Interests in Parliament? How the Presence of Women in Parliament Affects the Legislative Behavior of Male Politicians

“…people of immigrant origin) gain increasing access to parliament. Since growing proportions of formerly excluded groups imply a change in the balance of power and influence in parliament, majority members fear losing their dominant and powerful positions and, thus, react with hostility to limit the minority’s growing influence (Blalock ; Kanthak and Krause ; Kroeber ). Similar group‐threat mechanisms also occur if women gain access to previously male‐dominated workplaces.…”

Do Reserved Seats Work? Evidence from Tribal Representatives in Maine

“…This paper argues that while reserved seats legislators (RS) can improve the representation of group interests, their participation can be associated with lower support for group interests among non-reserved seat legislators (non-RS). Electoral rules structure the incentives that reserved seat and non-RS legislators face by determining the size and demographic composition of districts, as well as the translation of votes into seats (Kroeber 2018;Crisp et al 2018). We argue that legislative rules also play a role in structuring legislators' incentives to represent minority group interests.…”