The Political Representation of Immigrants and Minorities Voters, Parties and Parliaments in Liberal Democracies

In 2005, almost 700,000 immigrants acquired the citizenship of a member state of the European Union; over 600,000 became US citizens; nearly 100,000 became Australians and approximately 200,000 Canadians. 2005 was not an exceptional year. During the past decades, many advanced liberal democracies have become more ethnically diverse societies. This book breaks new ground in the analysis of the political representation of immigrants and visible minorities both theoretically and empirically. It examines the upward trend in migrant and minority representation and demonstrates that there remain crucial differences across liberal democracies in the timing of these developments; in channels of access for minority representatives, in the policy focus and outcomes of minority representation; in the nature of the connections between minority representatives and minority communities, and in the nature of their relationships with constituents at large. Part I analyses immigrants and visible minorities as voters, who must be the starting point of any analysis of political representation. Part II deals with the stage of candidate selection within political parties, a crucial and under-researched stage in the process of political representation. Part III deals with immigrants and members of visible minorities, once elected to parliament and includes analyses of the Canadian Parliament, the German Bundestag, MPs in the United Kingdom and Members of the United States Congress. The book will of interest to students and scholars of migration and ethnicity studies and political science, especially those with an interest in political representation, democratic institutions, voting behaviour, party organisation, legislative behaviour and comparative politics.

List of Tables List of Figures List of Contributors Series editor’s preface Preface Acknowledgements 1. Migration and Political Representation: An Introduction and a Framework - Karen Bird, Thomas Saalfeld, and Andreas M. Wüst Part I: Immigrants and Members of Visible Minorities as Voters: Turnout and Party Choice 2. Voter Turnout amongst Immigrants and Visible Minorities in Comparative Perspective 3. Party Choices amongst Immigrants and Visible Minorities in Comparative Perspective Part II: Immigrants and Members of Visible Minorities as Candidates for Elective Office 4. New Citizens – New Candidates? Candidate Selection and the Mobilisation of Immigrant Voters in German Elections - Sara Claro da Fonseca 5. Minority Representation in Norway: Success at the Local Level, Failure at the National Level - Johannes Bergh and Tor Bjørklund 6. Ethnic Inclusion or Exclusion in Representation? Local Candidate Selection in Sweden - Maritta Soininen 7. Yes They Can: An Experimental Approach to Eligibility of Ethnic Minority Candidates in France - Sylvain Brouard and Vincent Tiberj Part III: Immigrants and Members of Visible Minorities as Legislators 8. Minority Representation in the US Congress - Jason Casellas and David Leal 9. Patterns of Substantive Representation Among Visible Minority MPs: Evidence from Canada’s House of Commons - Karen Bird 10. Presence and Behaviour: Black and Minority Ethnic MPs in the British House of Commons - Thomas Saalfeld and Kalliopi Kyriakopoulou 11. Migrants as Parliamentary Actors in Germany - Andreas M. Wüst 12. Epilogue: Toward a Strategic Model of Minority Participation and Representation - Thomas Saalfeld, Andreas M. Wüst and Karen Bird

Karen Bird is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, McMaster University, Canada. Thomas Saalfeld is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bamberg, Germany. Andreas M. Wüst is Research Fellow at the Mannheim Center for European Social Research, University of Mannheim, Germany.