The Political Representation of Visible Minorities in Electoral Democracies: A Comparison of France, Denmark, and Canada

Pinning the Butterfly: Women, Blue-Collar and Ethnic Minority MPs vis-à-vis Parliamentary Norms and the Parliamentary Role of the Group Representative

“…Parity laws and quotas have been applied in progressively more countries to break through barriers hindering women's formal and descriptive participation (Krook 2009). The underrepresentation of other groups, especially ethnic minorities, is also problematised (Bird 2004). …”

Ethnic Group Representation in a Cross-National Comparison

“…Socio-economic constraints are another factor sometimes cited (Geissner 1997, Chaney andFevre 2002), whereas cultural factors are often implied, such as when historical under-representation and discrimination -intentional or not -are touched upon (Geissner 1997, Saggar and Geddes 2000, Bird 2005. Johnson (1998), for instance, examines the role of black Brazilians in their national parliament.…”

“…Bird (2005) goes further by comparing three developed countries, but she steers clear of a numerical analysis. Reynolds (2006) provides a cross-national perspective, but only addresses individual ethnic groups whilst focusing on the electoral system.…”

“…Political parties also feature in Bird's (2005) account of visible minorities in France, Denmark, and Canada. The argument is that historically minority groups tend to be under-represented in almost all countries, which includes ethnic minorities.…”

Failing to address issues of interest for Aboriginal Australians in the 2016 Federal election campaign

“…While it is common to argue, as March (2001, p. 159) does, that recent years have seen major Australian political parties 'largely jettisoning their roles in interest integration and opinion framing', the power of the formal representation of minority groups in disrupting the architecture of participation and presenting a necessarily oppositional, discerning and regulatory presence should not be understated. At a broad level, the representation of Indigenous peoples in governments is at least a litmus test for the integrity of state democracy in demonstrating its ability to 'represent the community in a microcosmic sense'; while even proportionally-appropriate levels of representation of Indigenous groups is not a panacea for fairness, prominent minority candidates can ameliorate perceptions of invisibility and help politicise and mobilise community members (Anthony 2006, p. 50;Bird 2005). Further, a lack of formal representation aligns with Walker and Walker's (1997, p. 8) definition of social exclusion as encompassing the 'dynamic process of being shut out' from the systems which 'determine the social integration of a person', in effect representing the non-realisation of the rights of citizenship.…”