Supporting Diversity on Party Lists: Attitudes of German Party Gatekeepers towards Enhancing Immigrant Representation
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Supporting Diversity on Party Lists : Attitudes of German Party Gatekeepers towards Enhancing Immigrant Representation. / Höhne, Benjamin; Bouju, Aimie; Landwehr, Dario.
In: Representation, 2024.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Supporting Diversity on Party Lists
T2 - Attitudes of German Party Gatekeepers towards Enhancing Immigrant Representation
AU - Höhne, Benjamin
AU - Bouju, Aimie
AU - Landwehr, Dario
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023 McDougall Trust, London.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Previous studies have found that political parties play a crucial role in explaining why certain minoritised groups are largely excluded from the parliamentary sphere. However, researchers still know relatively little about the specific challenges surrounding the selection of immigrant-origin candidates. There is some understanding of the demand dimension (e.g. aspiring migrants’ lack of political resources), but not much has been discovered about the selection dimension thus far. This paper provides insights into party gatekeepers’ attitudes toward the migration issue in candidate selection. Our work focuses on Germany, where over a quarter of the population has a ‘migration background,’ but these groups are significantly underrepresented in parliaments. Our findings draw from large-scale survey data collected at seven parties’ nomination conferences for the 2017 Bundestag election. We conducted binary-logistical regressions to analyse how selecting party members’ attitudes and social characteristics affect their support for balancing state lists. Our results show that the gatekeepers’ hierarchical position within their parties (as grassroots or members of the party elite) has no impact on their support for increasing diversity. It is rather gatekeepers’ ideological self-positioning, gender and general sensitivity toward politically marginalised groups that have a significant impact on their support for the migration issue.
AB - Previous studies have found that political parties play a crucial role in explaining why certain minoritised groups are largely excluded from the parliamentary sphere. However, researchers still know relatively little about the specific challenges surrounding the selection of immigrant-origin candidates. There is some understanding of the demand dimension (e.g. aspiring migrants’ lack of political resources), but not much has been discovered about the selection dimension thus far. This paper provides insights into party gatekeepers’ attitudes toward the migration issue in candidate selection. Our work focuses on Germany, where over a quarter of the population has a ‘migration background,’ but these groups are significantly underrepresented in parliaments. Our findings draw from large-scale survey data collected at seven parties’ nomination conferences for the 2017 Bundestag election. We conducted binary-logistical regressions to analyse how selecting party members’ attitudes and social characteristics affect their support for balancing state lists. Our results show that the gatekeepers’ hierarchical position within their parties (as grassroots or members of the party elite) has no impact on their support for increasing diversity. It is rather gatekeepers’ ideological self-positioning, gender and general sensitivity toward politically marginalised groups that have a significant impact on their support for the migration issue.
KW - candidate selection
KW - Descriptive representation
KW - gender
KW - immigrant-origin
KW - party gatekeepers
U2 - 10.1080/00344893.2023.2221675
DO - 10.1080/00344893.2023.2221675
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85163884156
JO - Representation
JF - Representation
SN - 0034-4893
ER -
ID: 389401466