Minority-Ethnic MPs and the Substantive Representation of Minority Interests in the House of Commons, 2005-2011

Saalfeld, Thomas; Bischof, Daniel

doi:10.1093/pa/gss084

Cited by 96 publications

(95 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(13 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…For instance, Saalfeld () noted that in the UK, MPs representing constituencies with a greater presence of visible minorities will ask more questions about diversity and immigration. In a subsequent study corroborating this finding, Saalfeld and Bischof () noted that all British MPs, regardless of their own ethnic background, are responsive to the interests of minority constituents when these are geographically concentrated. In Canada, Soroka et al () and Blidook and Kerby () studied the link between a series of constituency characteristics and preferences and the extent to which questions tabled by MPs elected in those constituencies mirror these concerns.…”

Section: Geographic Representation As Signalling Behaviour Through Pamentioning

confidence: 80%

Parliamentary Questions as an Instrument for Geographic Representation: The Hard Case of Portugal

Borghetto

Santana-Pereira

Freire

2020

Swiss Political Sci Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article asks whether and why, in a system lacking electoral incentives to cultivate personal votes, MPs might choose to signal to geographic constituents. It explores this question by analysing the number of written parliamentary questions submitted to the Portuguese parliament on two issues – unemployment and crime – between 2009 and 2015, and asking if MPs are more inclined to table questions on specific issues when their districts suffer particularly from related problems. The article finds evidence that constituency‐level problem pressure does matter for the signalling activities of MPs, although policy specialization remains the main driver of their issue emphasis. This finding contributes new knowledge to the ongoing debate on the factors accounting for the representative relationship between MPs and constituents, by drawing attention to the importance of district‐level problem pressure as one of the drivers of issue sponsorship in parliament.

show abstract

Section: Geographic Representation As Signalling Behaviour Through Pamentioning

confidence: 80%

Parliamentary Questions as an Instrument for Geographic Representation: The Hard Case of Portugal

Borghetto

Santana-Pereira

Freire

2020

Swiss Political Sci Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Much scholarly work provides evidence that MPs who are members of groups with perspectives distinct from the majority, such as women, LGBTQ people or historical minorities, aim to promote the interests of their kin (see, e.g., Campbell 2003;Tate 2003;Griffin & Newman 2005;Griffin et al 2012;Reynolds 2013). For instance, representatives of immigrant descent in Germany, Britain and Canada are more likely to join parliamentary committees working on issues relevant to immigrants and their descendants, ask parliamentary questions about immigration and discrimination, and claim to defend immigrant interests in speeches (Bird 2011;Saalfeld 2011;Saalfeld & Bischof 2013, Wüst 2011. For instance, representatives of immigrant descent in Germany, Britain and Canada are more likely to join parliamentary committees working on issues relevant to immigrants and their descendants, ask parliamentary questions about immigration and discrimination, and claim to defend immigrant interests in speeches (Bird 2011;Saalfeld 2011;Saalfeld & Bischof 2013, Wüst 2011.…”

Section: Under Which Conditions Do Representatives With Immigrant Bacmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Netherlands, for example, the share of representatives who were either born abroad or have at least one foreign-born parent rose from 10.3 to 12.7 per cent in the Tweede Kammer in 2010 and, in the same year, from 9.7 to 11.2 per cent in the United Kingdom's House of Commons (Van der Pas 2016: 3). Existing scholarship already provides ample evidence that legislators of foreign origin invest a lot of time and energy representing their groups' policy preferences (see, e.g., Bratton & Haynie 1999;Casellas 2007;Bird 2011;Saalfeld & Bischof 2013;Wüst 2014). Legislators sharing the experience of citizens of immigrant origin can shift the parliamentary agenda by providing information about, and lobbying for, their interests (Phillips 1995;Williams 1998;Mansbridge 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Kroeber

2017

European J Political Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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.

show abstract

“…Based on literature indicating that women have different attitudes towards immigration than men (Blinder ), as well as party‐specific scholarship reporting that parties with a higher share of women legislators present more social justice policies (Kittilson ), we include a gender variable. Second, we build upon the literature on descriptive representation (Saalfeld and Bischof ), and include an indicator variable for MPs born outside of Sweden. The third individual‐level variable captures ministerial roles because ministers’ speeches may represent the position of the ministry/government rather than their own opinion or district.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic Decline and Extreme‐Right Electoral Threat: How District‐Level Factors Shape the Legislative Debate on Immigration

Tzelgov

Olander

2018

Legislative Studies Qtrly

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This research examines the degree to which legislators respond to their districts by analyzing immigration‐related legislative speeches from the Swedish parliament (2005–16). Using a text‐scaling method, we find that the immigration discourse fluctuates between “socioeconomic responsibility” and “cultural difference” poles. We argue that socioeconomic declines and extreme‐right party success serve as an indication to MPs that there is demand for “cultural difference” rhetoric on immigration. Our statistical analyses support the argument and demonstrate that district‐level economic declines can lead to an increase in the salience of cultural framing of migrants, especially in districts with a higher share of foreign residents. We also find that district‐level extreme‐right electoral success has a significant influence on legislative immigration discourse. Overall, the results have implications for studies of legislative texts, dyadic representation, and the impact of the populist right on legislative politics in Europe.

show abstract

Minority-Ethnic MPs and the Substantive Representation of Minority Interests in the House of Commons, 2005-2011

Cited by 96 publications

References 18 publications

Parliamentary Questions as an Instrument for Geographic Representation: The Hard Case of Portugal

Parliamentary Questions as an Instrument for Geographic Representation: The Hard Case of Portugal

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

Economic Decline and Extreme‐Right Electoral Threat: How District‐Level Factors Shape the Legislative Debate on Immigration

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About