Achieving Descriptive Representation: The Case of Strategic Candidate Emergence

• In Event: Poster Session: Comparative Politics II

Abstract

Do underrepresented candidates emerge strategically in response to electoral environments favorable to inclusion? Historically marginalized groups are accessing high-rank political posts at higher rates than ever before, however, we do not yet know the reasons behind the holistic diversification of candidate pools and representative institutions. I build and test a theory of strategically emerging candidates which poses that underrepresented candidates emerge in response to (1) demands for inclusion and (2) electoral environments that make inclusion an effective strategy to win political office. I expose the combined effects of these factors on diversification by using data on candidate emergence on 20 Western democracies from 2005-2018 and survey experiments with potential candidates in candidate-centered systems. This research is part of a larger dissertation endeavour in which I additionally develop and test a theory of strategically responsive parties as explaining the diversification of institutions across multiple sociodemographic backgrounds. As a whole, this research provides the first theory and empirical evidence transcending group-specific explanations of political representation, and, placing underrepresented groups in the electorate and candidate pools at the center of representation models. As such, it contributes to a lively literature on the strategic causes of diversity of descriptive representation in Western democracies.

Author

• Iris Acquarone, Rice University