Representing Diversity in Mixed Electoral Systems: The Case of New Zealand

Barker, Fiona; Coffé, Hilde

doi:10.1093/pa/gsx073

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 35 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Thanks to these seats, Māori are well represented in parliament. With 20.7% of the MPs identifying as Māori after the 2014 elections, the representation of Māori is higher in parliament than in NZ society where, according to the 2013 census, one in seven people (14.9%) belong to the Māori ethnic group (Barker and Coffé 2018). 6…”

Section: The New Zealand Casementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Specifically, in the current study, (a) we directly compared generic support for increasing the number of women and indigenous Māori MPs and (b) we examined support for particular measures to increase the representation of both groups, through informal measures, gender quotas, and reserved seats for Māori. New Zealand is a particularly compelling setting for comparing support for the representation of women and Māori in the lower house because women are descriptively underrepresented (31.4%) and Māori are, thanks to reserved seats, well represented (20.7% MPs vs. 15% in the population) (Barker and Coffé 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Public Support for Increasing Women and Minority MPs

Bolzendahl

Coffé

2019

Pol & Gen

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Most democracies fail to provide equal representation and tend to have an overrepresentation of men from the upper class and the majority racial or ethnic group. We investigate public support for increasing the number of women and indigenous Māori members of parliament (MPs) in the New Zealand Parliament, both in general and through specific mechanisms such as quotas and reserved seats. We offer three explanations: descriptive (group identity), substantive (issue alignment), and symbolic (socioeconomic and political equity concerns). Using data from the 2014 New Zealand Election Study, we found that shared identity (descriptive) matters for all measures of increased representation, but especially for Māori respondent support of increased Māori MPs. Support for increasing the proportion of Māori MPs is also strongly driven by substantive concerns, as measured by support for keeping the Treaty of Waitangi in law. Support for increasing the number of women MPs is driven most strongly by symbolic concerns (measured as increased government social spending and efforts to reduce income differences). Overall, respondents favor retaining the current number of reserved seats for Māori MP representation, whereas informal efforts (rather than quotas) are strongly preferred for increasing the number of women MPs.

show abstract

Section: The New Zealand Casementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Support for Increasing Women and Minority MPs

Bolzendahl

Coffé

2019

Pol & Gen

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…majority MPs (Barker and Coff e 2018). In the national parliaments of Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, women with immigrant backgrounds are better represented than their male counterparts, although this is not the case in France, Germany, Greece and Italy Fernandes et al 2016;Freidenvall 2016;M€ ugge and Damstra 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Representing their own? Ethnic minority women in the Dutch Parliament

Mügge

Pas

Wardt

2019

West European Politics

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Ethnic minority women tend to be better represented in parliaments than ethnic minority men. What does this mean for their substantive representation? This article makes use of intersectional analysis to study how the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation differs within and between gender and ethnic groups. Drawing on written parliamentary questions and the committee memberships of MPs in seven parliamentary sessions (1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012) in the Netherlands, a strong link is found between descriptive and substantive representation. Female ethnic minority MPs more often sit on committees and table questions that address ethnic minority women's interests than male ethnic minority and female ethnic majority MPs. The link, however, is fragile as it is based on a small number of active MPs. This demonstrates the importance of an intersectional approach to understanding how representation works in increasingly diverse parliaments, which cannot be captured by focusing on gender or ethnicity alone.The under-representation of women and ethnic minorities in elected office is an almost universal phenomenon. But perhaps counter-intuitively, the combination of these seemingly marginal political identities can become an advantage for ethnic minority women. In the United States, more female than male elected officials have Latino and African-American backgrounds (Hardy-Fanta 2013;Orey and Brown 2014;Smooth 2006). Similarly, women in New Zealand are better represented among ethnic minority MPs, particularly M aori, than among ethnic CONTACT Liza M. M€ ugge

show abstract

“…Within countries these assumptions are probably not unreasonable (Ruedin 2009), but they remain assumptions. On this basis, there is by now a significant body of literature exploring the descriptive representation of regional and ethnic minorities -much of it focusing on individual cases (Barker and Coffé 2018;Bergh and Bjørklund 2003;Garbaye 2005;Geisser 1997;Morden 2017;Saggar and Geddes 2000;Schönwälder 2013) with comparative research emerging (Bird 2003;Bird, Saalfeld, and Wüst 2010;Hänni 2018;Hughes 2013;Ruedin 2009Ruedin , 2013. These studies outline numerical underrepresentation of regional and ethnic minorities, although the degree to which minority groups are under-represented seems to vary, and there are a few instances where minority groups are over-represented like Whites in South Africa or Chinese in Trinidad and Tobago (Ruedin 2013).…”

Section: National Legislaturesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Electoral institutions are an obvious target for investigation because they affect which candidates and parties are elected into the legislature and government. Many contributions have underscored the role of the electoral system, arguing that proportional representation should benefit the inclusion of regional and ethnic minorities (Barker and Coffé 2018;Lijphart 1999). What is at work here is a combination of the district magnitude and the behaviour of parties in selecting candidates (see also Kook 2017 on electoral thresholds).…”

Section: Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional and Ethnic Minorities

Ruedin¹

2020

The Oxford Handbook of Political Representation in Liberal Democracies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While members of regional and ethnic minorities can reach the highest echelons of power, in most contexts they remain politically marginalized and under-represented in formal politics. The heterogeneity of regional and ethnic minority groups creates a challenge for the study of representation if one wants to avoid the traps of essentialism and unrealistic assumptions. The inclusion of regional and ethnic minorities in legislatures and government can increase trust, alleviate conflict, and provide substantive representation. Much evidence shows that, on average, representatives of regional and ethnic minorities work in the name of their respective groups, especially in ‘low-cost’ activities like asking parliamentary questions. Such substantive representation should be the guiding principle, but the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation seems moderated by the context in which legislators operate.

show abstract

Representing Diversity in Mixed Electoral Systems: The Case of New Zealand

Cited by 20 publications

References 35 publications

Public Support for Increasing Women and Minority MPs

Public Support for Increasing Women and Minority MPs

Representing their own? Ethnic minority women in the Dutch Parliament

Regional and Ethnic Minorities

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About