Inclusion and responsiveness : disentangling political representation and its effect on ethnic protests in electoral democracies

Abstract

Political representation is crucial for the political stability of plural societies. It contributes to political stability by fostering feelings of inclusion and belonging among the minority or by affecting policy responsiveness. Previous research confounds these two types of representation by using descriptive representation as a proxy for policy responsiveness, although the relation between the two is not self-evident as minority representatives can easily be outvoted or marginalised, or represent other constituencies than their group. In this paper, I argue that the effect of representation must be disentangled by studying descriptive representation and policy responsiveness separately. The empirical analysis is based on a cross-sectional time-series design, analysing 90 ethnic minority groups in more than 40 electoral democracies worldwide. I find that descriptive representation has only an accommodative effect if it is sufficiently consequential, and that economic and cultural policies are differently linked to protest: economic rights have a curvilinear effect, whereas cultural rights are associated through a linear effect with protest. I explain this difference with a lack of economic means among economically marginalised groups, which might deter them from protesting.