Parliamentary Parties as Institutional Contexts for the Descriptive and Substantive Representation of Immigrant-Origin Minorities

In this paper, we look at the way organizational features of parliamentary parties affect the descriptive and substantive representation of MPs with a CIO background in national parliaments. The dependent variables will be (a) the positions of MPs of immigrant origin in the parliamentary parties’ hierarchy, and (b) the likelihood of legislators of immigrant origin to speak on migration-related matters in committees (as spokespersons) and on the floor of the chamber. These data will be compared to a matching sample of MPs without immigrant origin. We will use a model of legislative specialization derived from (a) Gilligan & Krehbiel’s formal work on legislative organization in the US, and (b) less formalized empirical literature on legislative specialization (e.g., Andeweg or Schüttemeyer). We will investigate the extent to which specialized party organizations in parliament create opportunities and incentives for MPs of immigrant origin to become policy experts in areas with particular affinity to immigration or the integration of citizens of immigrant origin and whether they use those positions as springboards for their political careers (career advancement in parliament and re-election chances through improving position on lists, where appropriate). The study will have a longitudinal design tracking the career paths of MPs across the entire window of observation (ca. 1990 to ca. 2014).