Effects of the Great Recession on Representation in South Europe

• In Event: Political Representation in an Era of Austerity

Abstract

Comparing legislatures in South Europe with populations we find out that one of the effects of the Great Recession is that citizens and parliamentarians tend to look alike more in some respects. That means that parties incorporate more social diversity to representative institutions through electoral lists, reducing thus the social distance between citizens and their representatives. We reach this conclusion by comparing the cases of Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece in two different moments—before and after the Great Recession. We use census data (except for Italy) and parliamentarians’ bios to establish comparisons. We use the Social Disproportion Index to systematize across countries and periods of time the convergence (or divergence) between he social structure of institutions of representation and that of their respective societies.

Authors

• Xavier Coller, Universidad Pablo de Olavide

• Andre Freire, ISCTE

• Paolo Segatti, Universita of Milano-Facoltà di Scienze Politiche

• Emmanouil Tsatsanis

• Andrea Pedrazzani, University of Milan