Why Representation Matters

The Meaning of Ethnic Quotas in Rural India

Simon Chauchard

• Editore: Cambridge University Press
• Anno: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781108216050
• Argomento: Politique et relations internationales
• Categoria: Politique mondiale

When members of groups that have long been marginalized finally gain access to political offices, it is expected that the social meaning of belonging to such a group will change and that these psychological changes will have far-reaching behavioral consequences. Supporters of political quotas granting such access often argue that they improve the nature of intergroup relations. However, these presumed psychological effects have remained surprisingly uncharted and untested. Do policies mandating the inclusion of excluded groups in political offices change the intergroup relations? If so, in what ways? By drawing on careful multi-method explorations of a single case - local-level electoral quotas for members of formerly 'untouchable' castes in India - this book provides nuanced, thorough and ultimately optimistic responses to these questions.

Indice dei contenuti

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Table of contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Acknowledgments
• Note on terminology
• 1 Political Representation and Intergroup Relations
• 2 Untouchability in Rural India
• 3 Local Representation in Rural India
• 4 Theory: The Impact of Descriptive Representation
• 5 Quantitative Methodology
• 6 Tests: The Material and Tangible Effects of Descriptive Representation
• 7 Tests: The Cognitive Impact of Descriptive Representation
• 8 The Effects of Descriptive Representation on Interpersonal Relations
• 9 Descriptive Representation and Intergroup Relations in Comparative Perspective
• Appendix A: Methodological Note on Field Research
• Appendix B : The Pair-Matches
• Appendix C: Additional Balance Tests
• Appendix D: Did Members of the Scheduled Castes Self-Select into Reserved Villages?
• Bibliography
• Press Articles
• Index