Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-8p85h Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-17T19:21:49.415Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Why Are Immigrants Underrepresented in Politics? Evidence from Sweden

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2015

RAFAELA M. DANCYGIER ,
KARL-OSKAR LINDGREN ,
SVEN OSKARSSON  and
KÅRE VERNBY
RAFAELA M. DANCYGIER*
Affiliation:
Princeton University
KARL-OSKAR LINDGREN*
Affiliation:
Uppsala University
SVEN OSKARSSON*
Affiliation:
Uppsala University
KÅRE VERNBY*
Affiliation:
Stockholm University
*
Rafaela M. Dancygier is Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University (rdancygi@Princeton.edu).
Karl-Oskar Lindgren is Associate Professor, Department of Government, Uppsala University, Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU), and Uppsala Center for Labor Studies (UCLS) (karl-oskar.lindgren@statsvet.uu.se).
Sven Oskarsson is Associate Professor, Department of Government, Uppsala University and Uppsala Center for Labor Studies (UCLS) (sven.oskarsson@statsvet.uu.se).
Kåre Vernby is Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, Department of Government, Uppsala University, and Uppsala Center for Labor Studies (UCLS) (kare.vernby@statsvet.su.se).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Widespread and persistent political underrepresentation of immigrant-origin minorities poses deep challenges to democratic practice and norms. What accounts for this underrepresentation? Two types of competing explanations are prevalent in the literature: accounts that base minority underrepresentation on individual-level resources and accounts that emphasize political opportunity structures. However, due to the lack of data suitable for testing these explanations, existing research has not been able to adjudicate between these theories. Using registry-based microdata covering the entire Swedish adult population between 1991 and 2010 our study is the first to empirically evaluate these alternative explanations. We examine election outcomes to municipal councils over the course of six elections and find that variation in individual-level resources cannot explain immigrants’ underrepresentation. Further, when comparing immigrants and natives who face comparable political opportunity structures a large representation gap remains. Instead, we argue that discrimination by party gatekeepers plays a more significant role in perpetuating the underrepresentation of immigrants than do individual resources or structural variables.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 109 , Issue 4 , November 2015 , pp. 703 - 724
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Adida, Claire. 2014. Immigrant Exclusion and Insecurity in Africa. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adida, Claire, Laitin, David, and Valfort, Marie-Anne. 2010. “Identifying Barriers to Muslim Integration in France.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107 (52): 22384–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Aldashev, A., Gernandt, J., and Thomsen, S. L.. 2008. “The Immigrant Wage Gap in Germany.” FEMM Working Paper Series 19. Magdeburg: Faculty of Economics and Management.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahmed, A. M., and Hammarstedt, M.. 2008. “Discrimination in the rental housing market: A field experiment on the Internet.” Journal of Urban Economics 64 (2): 362–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Åslund, O., and Skans, O. N.. 2012. “Do anonymous job application procedures level the playing field.” Industrial & Labor Relations Review 65 (1): 82–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bäck, H. 2004. “Information och valdeltagande.” In Politisk annonsering eller nätverkande?, eds. Bäck, H. and Soininen, M.. School of Public Administration Report 61, University of Gothenburg, 94–163.Google Scholar
Bäck, H., and Öhrvall, R.. 2004. “Det nya seklets förtroendevalda. Om politikerantal och representativitet i kommuner och landsting 2003.” Stockholm: Swedish Ministry of Justice.Google Scholar
Bengtsson, R., Iverman, E., and Hinnerich, B. T.. 2012. “Gender and Ethnic Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market.” Applied Economics Letters 19 (1): 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, Karen. 2005. “The Political Representation of Visible Minorities in Electoral Democracies: A Comparison of France, Denmark, and Canada.” Nationalism & Ethnic Politics 11 (4):425–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, Karen, Saalfeld, Thomas, and Wüst, Andreas, eds. 2011. The Political Representation of Immigrants and Minorities: Voters, Parties and Parliaments in Liberal Democracies. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Blalock, Hubert. 1967. Toward a Theory of Minority-Group Relations. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Bleich, Erik, Caeiro, Carolina, and Luehrman, Sarah. 2010. “State Responses to ‘Ethnic Riots’ in Liberal Democracies: Evidence from Western Europe.” European Political Science Review 2 (2): 269–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blinder, Alan. 1973. “Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates.” The Journal of Human Resources 8 (4): 436–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloemraad, Irene. 2013. “Accessing the Corridors of Power: Puzzles and Pathways to Understanding Minority Representation.” West European Politics 36 (3): 652–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloemraad, Irene, and Schönwälder, Karen. 2013. “Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Representation in Europe: Conceptual Challenges and Theoretical Approaches.” West European Politics 36 (3): 564–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blomqvist, Paula. 2000. Personvalets betydelse för valdeltagandet. Integrationsverkets rapportserie 2000:17.Google Scholar
Blomqvist, Paula. 2004. “Kandidater och personval.” In Politisk annonsering eller nätverkande?, eds. Bäck, H. and Soininen, M.. School of Public Administration Report 61, University of Gothenburg, 166–95.Google Scholar
Blomqvist, Paula. 2005. Närvarons politik och det mångetniska Sverige. Om att ta plats i demokratin. Doctoral dissertation, University of Gothenburg.Google Scholar
Brader, Ted, Valentino, Nicholas A., and Suhay, Elizabeth. 2008. “What Triggers Public Opposition to Immigration? Anxiety, Group Cues, and Immigration Threat.” American Journal of Political Science 52 (4): 959–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bratton, K. A., and Ray, L. P.. 2002. “Descriptive Representation, Policy Outcomes, and Municipal Day-care Coverage in Norway.” American Journal of Political Science 46 (2): 428–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brouard, Sylvain, and Tiberj, Vincent. 2011. “Yes They Can: An Experimental Approach to the Eligibility of Ethnic Minority Candidates in France.” In The Political Representation of Immigrants and Minorities: Voters, Parties, and Parliaments in Liberal Democracies, eds. Bird, K., Saalfeld, T., and Wüst, A.. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Browning, Rufus P., Marshall, Dale R., and Tabb, David H.. 1984. Protest is not Enough: The Struggle of Blacks and Hispanics for Equality in Urban Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cameron, Charles, Epstein, David, and O’Halloran, Sharyn. 1996. “Do Majority-Minority Districts Maximize Substantive Black Representation in Congress?” American Political Science Review 90 (4): 794–812.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlsson, M., and Rooth, D. O.. 2007. “Evidence of Ethnic Discrimination in the Swedish Labor Market Using Experimental Data.” Labour Economics 14 (4): 716–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chattopadhyay, Raghabendra, and Duflo, Esther. 2004. “Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India.” Econometrica 72 (5): 1409–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chauchard, Simon. 2014. “Can Descriptive Representation Change Beliefs About a Stigmatized Group? Evidence from Rural Rajasthan.” American Political Science Review 108 (2): 403–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dancygier, Rafaela. 2010. Immigration and Conflict in Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dancygier, Rafaela. 2013. “The Left and Minority Representation: The Labour Party, Muslim Candidates, and Inclusion Tradeoffs.” Comparative Politics 46 (1): 1–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dancygier, Rafaela. 2014. “Electoral Rules or Electoral Leverage? Explaining Muslim Representation in England.” World Politics 66 (2): 229–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunning, Thad, and Nilekani, Janhavi. 2013. “Ethnic Quotas and Political Mobilization: Caste, Parties, and Distribution in Indian Village Councils.” American Political Science Review 107 (1): 35–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fennema, Meindert, and Tillie, Jean. 1999. “Political Participation and Political Trust in Amsterdam. Civic Communities and Ethnic Networks.” Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 25 (4): 703–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FSI. 2013. Befolkningens attityder till invandringen. Forskningsgruppen för Samhällsoch Informationsstudier.Google Scholar
Fisher, Stephen D., Heath, Anthony F., Sanders, David, and Sobolewska, Maria. 2015. “Candidate Ethnicity and Vote Choice in Britain.” British Journal of Political Science 45 (4): 883–905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folke, Olle, and Rickne, Johanna. 2012. Personröster och politiska karriärer. Stockholm: SNS.Google Scholar
Folke, Olle, Persson, Torsten, and Rickne, Johanna. 2014. “Preferential Voting, Accountability and Promotions into Political Power: Evidence from Sweden.” IFW Working Paper No. 1002.Google Scholar
Fortin, N., Lemieux, T., and Firpo, S.. 2011. “Decomposition Methods in Economics.” Handbook of Labor Economics 4: 1–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garbaye, Romain. 2005. Getting into Local Power: The Politics of Ethnic Minorities in British and French Cities. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geyer, Florian. 2007. “Trends in the EU-27 Regarding Participation of Third-Country Nationals in the Host Country's Political Life.” Available at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/studies.Google Scholar
Givens, Terri, and Maxwell, Rahsaan, eds. 2012. Immigrant Politics: Race and Representation in Western Europe. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gutmann, Amy, and Thompson, Dennis. 2004. Why Deliberative Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hainmueller, Jens, and Hangartner, Dominik. 2013. “Who Gets a Swiss Passport? A Natural Experiment in Immigrant Discrimination.” American Political Science Review 107 (1): 259–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hainmueller, Jens, and Hopkins, Daniel J.. 2014. “Public Attitudes toward Immigration.” Annual Review of Political Science 17: 225–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Higgins, Andrew. 2013. “In Sweden, Riots Put an Identity in Question.” New York Times, May 26.Google Scholar
Hopkins, Daniel J. 2010. “Politicized Places: Explaining Where and When Immigrants Provoke Local Opposition.” American Political Science Review 104 (1): 40–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hochschild, Jennifer, Chattopadhyay, Jacqueline, Gay, Claudine, and Jones-Correa, Michael. 2013. Outsiders No More? Models of Immigrant Political Incorporation. New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, F. L., and Kelley, J.. 1984. “Decomposing Differences Between Groups: A Cautionary Note on Measuring Discrimination.” Sociological Methods and Research 12 (3): 323–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karpowitz, Chistopher, Mendelberg, Tali, and Shaker, Lee. 2012. “Gender Inequality and Deliberative Participation.” American Political Science Review 106 (3): 533–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koopmans, Ruud, Statham, Paul, Giugni, Marco, and Passy, Florence. 2005. Contested Citizenship: Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Europe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Lange, Anders. 2000. Diskriminering, integration och etniska relationer. Norrköping: Integrationsverket.Google Scholar
Lawless, Jennifer, and Fox, Richard. 2010. It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lundh, Christer, and Ohlsson, Rolf. 1999. Från arbetskraftsimport till flyktinginvandring. Kristianstad: SNS Förslag.Google Scholar
Lundqvist, H. 2013. “Is it worth it? On the returns to holding political office.” IEB Working Paper No. 2013/014.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansbridge, Jane. 1999. “Should Blacks Represent Blacks and Women Represent Women? A Contingent ‘Yes’.” Journal of Politics 61 (3): 628–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maxwell, Rahsaan. 2012. Ethnic Minority Migrants in Britain and France: Integration Trade-Offs. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mella, O., Ahmadi, F., and Palm, I.. 2013. Mångfaldsbarometern 2013. University of Gävle report.Google Scholar
Michon, Laure, and Vermeulen, Floris. 2013. “Explaining Different Trajectories in Immigrant Political Integration: Moroccans and Turks in Amsterdam.” West European Politics 36 (3): 597–614.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Messina, Anthony. 2007. The Logics and Politics of Post-WWII Migration to Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Myrberg, G. 2007. Medlemmar och medborgare: Föreningsdeltagande och politiskt engagemang i det etnifierade samhället. Doctoral dissertation, Uppsala University.Google Scholar
Nilsson, Åke. 2004. Efterkrigstidens invandring och utvandring. Stockholm: Statistics Sweden.Google Scholar
Norris, Pippa, and Lovenduski, Joni. 1995. Political Recruitment: Gender, Race and Class in the British Parliament. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Oaxaca, Ronald. 1973. “Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets.” International Economic Review 14 (3): 693–709.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oaxaca, R. L., and Ransom, M. R.. 1994. “On Discrimination and the Decomposition of Wage Differentials.” Journal of Econometrics 61 (1): 5–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
OECD. 2012. International Migration Outlook. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Pager, Devah, and Shepherd, Hana. 2008. “The Sociology of Discrimination: Racial Discrimination in Employment, Housing, Credit and Consumer Markets.” Annual Review of Sociology 34: 181–209.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Persson, Mikael. 2011. “An Empirical Test of the Relative Education Model in Sweden.” Political Behavior 33 (3): 455–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, Anne. 1995. The Politics of Presence. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pitkin, Hanna. 1967. The Concept of Representation. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramakrishnan, S. Karthick. 2005. Democracy in Immigrant America. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Ratha, Dilip, and Shaw, William. 2007. “South-South Migration and Remittances.” World Bank Working Paper No. 102. Washington, DC: World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruedin, Didier. 2009. “Ethnic Group Representation in a Cross-National Comparison.” The Journal of Legislative Studies 15 (4): 335–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimers, C. W. 1983. “Labor Market Discrimination against Hispanic and Black Men.” The Review of Economics and Statistics 65 (4): 570–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schierenbeck, I., and Schütt, S.. 2004. “Invandrare som folkvalda.” In Politisk annonsering eller nätverkande?, eds. Bäck, H. and Soininen, M.. School of Public Administration Report 61, University of Gothenburg, 196–222.Google Scholar
Schönwälder, Karen. 2013. “Immigrant Representation in Germany's Regional States: The Puzzle of Uneven Dynamics.” West European Politics 36 (3): 634–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schönwälder, Karen, Sinanoglu, Chian, and Volkert, Daniel. 2011. Vielfalt sucht Rat: Ratsmitglieder mit Migrationshintergrund in deutschen Großstädten. Berlin: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.Google Scholar
Słoczynski, Tymon. 2013. “Population Average Gender Effects.” IZA Discussion Paper 7315, Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn.Google Scholar
Soininen, Maritta. 2011. “Ethnic Inclusion or Exclusion in Representation?: Local Candidate Selection in Sweden.” In The Political Representation of Immigrants and Minorities: Voters, Parties and Parliaments in Liberal Democracies, eds. Bird, K., Saalfeld, T., and Wüst, A.. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Soininen, Maritta, and Etzler, Nils. 2006. Partierna nominerar: Exkluderingens mekanismer – etnicitet och representation. SOU 2006: 53.Google Scholar
Statistics Sweden. 2012. Statistical Yearbook of Sweden 2012. Örebro: Statistics Sweden.Google Scholar
Strömblad, Per, and Adman, Per. 2010. “Political Integration through Ethnic or Nonethnic Voluntary Associations?” Political Research Quarterly 64 (4): 721–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sullivan, J., Piereson, J., and Marcus, G.. 1982. Political Tolerance and American Democracy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press Google Scholar
Tate, Katherine. 2003. Black Faces in the Mirror: African Americans and their Representatives in the U.S. Congress. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Trounstine, Jessica, and Valdini, Melody. 2008. “The Context Matters: The Effects of Single-Member versus At-Large Districts on City Council Diversity.” American Journal of Political Science 52 (3): 554–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Kolk, Henk. 2007. “Local Electoral Systems in Western Europe.” Local Government Studies 33 (2): 159–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Verba, Sidney, Schlozman, Kay, and Brady, Henry E.. 1995. Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vernby, Kåre. 2013. “Inclusion and Public Policy: Evidence from Sweden's Introduction of Noncitizen Suffrage.” American Journal of Political Science 57 (1): 15–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wolfinger, Raymond E., and Rosenstone, Steven J.. 1980. Who Votes? New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
World Bank. 2014. Bilateral Migration Matrix. Available at: http://econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTDEC/EXTDECPROSPECTS/0,contentMDK:22803131~pagePK:64165401~piPK:64165026~theSitePK:476883,00.html Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Dancygier supplementary material

Online Appendix

Download Dancygier supplementary material(File)
File 146.9 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.