A must-read for scholars across a broad sweep of disciplines. Laurel Weldon weaves
together skillfully the theoretical strands of gender equality policy, intersectionality, social …

Empirical studies show a link between substantive and descriptive representation of racial
and ethnic minorities. However, our understanding of the mechanisms through which this …

This book conclusively demonstrates that direct democracy—institutions like the ballot
initiative and the referendum—endangers the rights of minorities and perpetuates a tyranny …

Objectives. A common critique of direct democracy posits that minority rights are
endangered by citizen legislative institutions. By allowing citizens to directly create public …

For about 10 years beginning in the mid 1990s, Northern Ireland had its own women's
political party. The Northern Ireland Women's Coalition (NIWC) was created by members of …

This article examines the representation of ethnic groups in mixed electoral systems.
Analysing data from all Members of Parliament (MPs) in New Zealand's Parliament since the …

This article asks whether Turkish and North African origin candidates experience an
electoral (dis) advantage in the Brussels preferential voting system. We examine the impact …

The scholarly literature on ethnic minority representation often points to the “political
opportunity structure”–particularly that of political parties–to explain the prevalence of ethnic …

These are political parties, who play the key role in candidate selection and assignment to
constituencies; voters, with their potential biases towards candidates; and candidates …

Although a large number of normative and empirical scholars are dealing with the question
whether descriptive representation is required for a functioning representational relationship …