Immigrants Serving in Local Government: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Factors Affecting Candidacy and Election

Descriptive representation, the extent to which politicians reflect the descriptive characteristics (e.g., ethnicity or gender) of their constituents, has been studied at various scales since it was first introduced in Hanna Pitkin's seminal work several decades ago. In recent years, scholars have also begun to investigate immigrant representation in politics, including at the local, state, and national levels of government. This study evaluates the current research on the factors affecting the election of immigrant candidates to municipal government. In addressing the lack of data-driven reviews in this type of research, the paper employs a scoping review methodological framework. Fifty-six distinct factors are identified as important for immigrants’ electoral fortunes. The factors are classified under: Macro-level electoral structures and situational elements, meso-level immigrant group dynamics, and micro-level individual candidate characteristics. The most salient factors are elaborated on, together with a discussion on policy implications and future potential areas of inquiry.

Back from Holyrood: How mixed-member proportional representation and ballot structure shape the personal vote

Research on mixed-member legislatures demonstrates that members face different incentive structures when cultivating a personal vote. In this article, we examine how Scotland’s adoption of a mixed-member proportional system (MMP) and a change in ballot structure affect the legislative activities undertaken and emphasised by Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs). Utilising a range of measures of legislative behaviour, we find that MSPs representing constituencies spend less time legislating and more time engaged in constituent service work. Regional members, conversely, lodge more parliamentary motions when not listed on the ballot and sponsor more members’ bills than constituency-based colleagues when on the ballot. We conclude that electoral structures directly affect the representational styles MSPs adopt, while calling for conceptual reconsideration of the personal vote.

The Levant Mandates

Statesmen attending the Paris Conference after World War I proposed the new League of Nations and an arrangement called mandates to administer occupied enemy territory and colonies. The Ottoman realms of the Middle East were arguably the principal prize of the war and both Britain and France sought control. Regions of the Hapsburg Empire and the Balkans became newly independent countries, but the Middle East was too important for such an outcome. The mandates were claimed to be “not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world,” and “the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilisation.” Mandate rule lasted nearly 30 years in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, Jordan, and Iraq. The mandates are forgotten everywhere, but the traces of decades of Mandate rule remain even today, in borders, electoral structures, martial law codes, authoritarian executives, and pervasive security and military structures.

Partisanship, Structure, and Representation: The Puzzle of African American Education Politics

The 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act targeted electoral structures as significant determinants of minority representation. The research regarding electoral structures and representation of constituents, however, has produced conflicting results, and the continued application of some of the provisions set forth in the Voting Rights Act is in doubt. This article addresses the impact of at-large elections on African American representation and reveals a striking and unanticipated finding: African Americans are now overrepresented on school boards that have at-large elections when African Americans are a minority of the population. Using the 1,800 largest school districts in the United States (based on original surveys conducted in 2001, 2004, and 2008), we find that partisanship changes the relationship between electoral structures and race to benefit African American representation.

Iowa: The Most Representative State?

There are perhaps many good arguments for Iowa maintaining its “first in the nation” status, in terms of the presidential nomination process. The strongest, however, would seem to be an argument that it is representative of the nation as a whole. That is, somehow, Iowa is a microcosm of the national political forces, faithfully mirroring the relevant electoral structures and choices of the macro-stage. This belief is certainly held by some. Palo Alto County, in northwestern Iowa, has long been considered a presidential bellwether, faithfully voting with the winning candidate in a series beginning in 1916. But as media worthy as that fact might be, it seems most likely a product of chance, for its heavily rural, northern European-descended population make it far from demographically representative of contemporary America (Lewis-Beck and Rice 1992, 4–6). A similar charge is commonly made today against the state as a whole, by political commentators across the land. But is it true? Is Iowa really unrepresentative? That is the question we seek to answer.