Unequal Responsiveness in Advanced Democracies

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

Since the APSA Task Force on Inequality and American Democracy was set up in 2004, there has been heightened attention for political inequality in the United States. We have learned a lot about how socio-economic inequality translates into unequal political participation and unequal responsiveness since then. However, there has been less comparative work that helps to put U.S. findings into perspective. With this panel, we aim at filling this void. The four contributions will each deal with different aspects of political inequality and unequal responsiveness, in particular. They use cross-sectional designs or study individual European countries in more detail. All contributions analyze whether politics is equally tilted in favor of the better off in Europe as it is in the United States and seek to understand the underlying causes. Even in some of the most egalitarian countries in the world, such as Sweden, political decisions do not reflect the interest of all citizens equally. Neither proportional representation nor social democratic parties seem to ensure political equality. Given these results, this panel will discuss which common features lead to increased political inequality. The papers of this panel speak directly to the overall conference theme of “Populism and Privilege” as unequal responsiveness is one of the drivers for the support of populist parties. Those who feel poorly represented are more likely either to abstain or to support protest parties. In contrast, more privileged groups have a higher sense of efficacy and vote less frequently for populist parties.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 55: Class and Inequality

Individual Presentations

• Descriptive Representation and Unequal Responsiveness - Armin Schäfer, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität; Svenja Hense, University of Osnabrueck

• Interest Groups and the Legitimacy of Governance - Anne Rasmussen, University of Copenhagen; Stefanie Reher, University of Strathclyde

• Voter Preferences and Redistributive Outcomes - Jonas Pontusson, University of Geneva; Konstantin Käppner, University of Konstanz; Jeremie Poltier, University of Geneva; Max Joosten

• Income Distributions and the Relative Representation of Rich and Poor Citizens - Mikael Persson, University of Gothenburg; Eric Guntermann, University of California, Berkeley

Chair

• Jonas Pontusson University of Geneva

Discussant

• Larry M. Bartels Vanderbilt University