Substantive Representation of Minority Preferences. Are Minority Representatives good for Representing Minorities?

The importance of ethnic minority parties in Western and Eastern Europe increased consider-ably during the last decades (Tronconi 2006; Moser 2005). Since political parties are the most important mean to ensure representation (Kitschelt 1999: 44) many would assume that the political success of minority parties simultaneously led to a better representation of minority demands (e.g. Birnir 2007: 33). However, at least two arguments challenge this assumption. First, members of parliament who belong to an ethnic minority need not necessarily to be elected through ethnic parties. Minority representatives might as well be elected through mainstream parties as it is the case in the United States, the Baltic States or (for linguistic mi-norities) in Switzerland. Second and even more importantly, it is all but clear that minority representatives actually strengthen minority rights (George et al 2010: 60; Cameron et al 1996; Lublin 1997). Therefore, I propose a conditional effect of descriptive representation. I argue that descriptive representation has a stronger effect on substantive representation if 1) minority representatives are incorporated into the majority coalition or the government, and if 2) the legislative allows for policy influence (measured trough the governmental system and legislative effectiveness), or if 3) territorial autonomy rules exist that allow for self-governance of ethnic minorities in areas important to them. To measure the descriptive representation of ethnic minorities I rely on data on the number of representatives in ethnic parties. Furthermore, the concept is, additionally, operationalized through data, which assesses the ratio between the share of minority representatives in the first chamber of the parliament and the share of the minority population. Regarding the sub-stantive representation of ethnic minorities it is examined, whether laws exist, which ensure the recognition and education in/of minority languages. For this purpose I extend an existing database by additional years and countries. The investigation is based on multiple regressions with data from 35 Western democracies (including Central and Eastern Europe) in 2006. References : Birnir, J. K. (2007). Ethnicity and Electoral Politics. Cambridge, New York, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Cameron, C., Epstein, D., & Halloran, S. O. (1996). “Do Majority-Minority Districts Maxim-ise Substantive Black Representation in Congress ?” The American Political Science Re-view, 90(4), 794-812. George, J., Moser, R. G., & Papic, M. (2010). “The Impact of Minority-Majority Districts: Evidence from Ukraine.” Post-Soviet Affairs, 26(1): 58-76. Mansbridge, J. (1999). Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent “Yes.” The Journal of Politics, 61(03), 628–657. Kitschelt, H., Mansfeldova, Z., Markowski, R., Toka, G. (1999). Post-Communist Party Sys-tems. Competition, Representation, and Inter-Party Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lublin, D. (1997). The Paradox of Representation. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton Univer-sity Press. Moser, R. G. (2005). “Ethnicity, Elections, and Party Systems in Postcommunist States”, in: Z. Barany & R. G. Moser: Ethnic Politics after Communism. Ithace, London: Cornell University Press, 108-139. Tronconi, F. (2006). “Ethnic Identity and Party Competition. An Analysis of the Electoral Performance of Ethnoregionalist parties in Western Europe.” World Political Science Re-view 2(2), 137-163.