Parliamentary Representation Research Articles

Review of Affirmative Action Policy in West Java DPRD: challenges and Solutions of Political Parties in Achieving Women's Representation

This study tries to analyze the performance of affirmative action policies for female participation in the Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) of West Java Province, focused on three principal political parties: PDIP, Golkar, and PKS. Notwithstanding the implementation of a 30% female quota, women's representation in parliament has yet to attain an ideal percentage. This study applies a qualitative methodology utilizing explanatory and descriptive approaches, concentrating on the strategies utilized by each party to recruit and assist female parliamentary candidates. The results indicate that although PDIP, Golkar, and PKS are dedicated to affirmative action programs, their execution is shaped by varying ideological perspectives and socioeconomic circumstances. PDIP employs an inclusive strategy to enhance female representation but encounters challenges posed by conservative local cultures. Golkar prioritizes electoral efficacy by selecting pragmatic candidates, focusing on women with robust political networks, while PKS adheres to religious principles that constrain women's political participation. The findings indicate that affirmative action programs must be tailored to local dynamics and party beliefs to effectively enhance meaningful female representation in parliament. The study indicates that while affirmative action fosters female representation, its effectiveness relies on the adaptive strategies of each party in tackling local obstacles.

A health system assessment approach to analysis of political parties' health proposals, Portugal.

Comparing health policy measures before elections and identifying potential gaps in the health policy debate can be challenging. We explored the use of the Health System Performance Assessment for Universal Health Coverage framework to analyse health policy proposals by classifying health policy measures outlined in political manifestos into four health system functions: governance, financing, resource generation and service delivery. As a case study, we analysed the political manifestos of all Portuguese parties with parliamentary representation ahead of the election in March 2024. We calculated the share of measures per health system function for individual political manifestos and identified potential gaps in the health policy debate. When required, we used additional classification criteria and local expertise on political and institutional knowledge. A snap general election was announced in Portugal in November2023, following an alleged corruption scandal, and political parties began publishing their manifestos on their websites in January2024. We identified and classified 350 health-related measures across the four functions: governance, 29.7% (104 measures); financing, 16.9% (59 measures); resource generation, 33.4% (117 measures); and service delivery, 20.0% (70 measures). These findings enabled characterization of the priorities of parties, facilitated cross-party comparisons and identified missing topics in the political debate. We show that the framework can be adapted to analyse political manifestos, providing a systematic method for comparing and synthesizing health policy proposals. We further demonstrate the potential for extending the framework's applicability beyond health system performance assessment, opening new avenues for policy analysis.

Political elite social listening: How Portuguese MPs perceive their own motivations to join and use Twitter/X

Most studies on political actors’ use of Twitter focus on content and social network analysis, but not on their motivations and passive usage. We applied a questionnaire to a significant sample of 94 Members of Parliament (MPs), with a quota sample sized by political party representation in Parliament, to survey their motivations to have or not a Twitter account and their uses. We concluded that MPs see Twitter mostly as a political tool unlike other social media platforms. The most common motivation to join and use Twitter is to read other politicians’ opinions which helps explain why the small Twitter adoption in Portugal does not deter its use as their peers and political elite is on the platform. That twitter elite can even be a motivator to join as their peer social capital is key to re-election in closed list-elections countries such as Portugal.

Populist Party Responsiveness and Populist Party Voter Satisfaction With Democracy in Europe

<p>Voters of populist parties tend to be dissatisfied with democracy. Some scholars attribute this dissatisfaction with how our democracies function to poor representation by mainstream parties and a feeling of not being heard. We should see this representation improve with the success of populist parties. This improved representation should, in turn, have a positive impact on populist party voters’ satisfaction with democracy (SWD). Existing case studies have only looked at the link between formal populist party representation in parliament or government, and populist party voters’ SWD, with mixed findings, the most puzzling of which is that populist party voters may even become less satisfied with growing formal representation. There is no comparative study on populist parties’ actual responsiveness to populist party voters and the connection to their SWD. Thus, we ask: How well do populist parties represent populist party voters, and how does this populist party responsiveness influence populist party voters’ satisfaction with democracy? We define populist party responsiveness as issue-based agenda-responsiveness between populist party voters and populist parties and investigate the link to SWD using data on 21 countries from the 2019 European Election Studies. We find that populist parties in Europe are not generally more responsive to populist party voters than mainstream parties. Populist parties’ agenda-responsiveness has a positive effect on populist voters’ SWD while being in government does not increase the positive effect of populist party responsiveness on their voters’ SWD. They may be disenchanted by how well their parties can eventually “walk the talk.”</p>

Emociones y liderazgos políticos en las elecciones al Parlamento de Andalucía de 2022 en X

Social networks have become in recent years as essential elements in order to building political discourses, especially in electoral periods. Political parties develop specific strategies to communicating with their constituents through these platforms, based on leadership and the use of emotions. This research aims to analyze the communication strategies deployed by political leaders on Twitter during the Andalusian Parliament election campaign in 2022, and for this purpose, a quantitative and qualitative content analysis methodology is applied to a sample of 690 tweets in the personal accounts of the candidates of the six parties with parliamentary representation. An advance of the results points to a communicative planning previously designed, that builds a discourse based on thematic lines, strategies, approaches and, especially, feelings according to the ideological, programmatic and mobilizing axis established by each political formation.

Effort to gender equality in Indonesia, compared on ASEAN

This study aims to determine the extent of gender inequality in human resource development in Indonesia against Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). This research using secondary data from various relevant sources. There are five dimensions that and are important for measuring gender equality, namely economic participation, economic opportunities, political empowerment, educational attainment, and health and welfare. The assessment was carried out on Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. The results of the study show that Indonesia has the lowest gender development index (GDI) score compared to the average in ASEAN. Then, gender empowerment measure (GEM) Indonesia increased slowly. The most striking gap is in the income dimension, where men’s income far exceeds women’s income. This happens because women work less than men because women are more traditional in domestic roles in Indonesia, where women are prioritized in managing the household. However, for political indicators, there has been an increase in the number of women in parliament, but the target has not yet reached 30 percent of the total number of women in parliament. This situation shows that there is a reduction in the gender gap in the economy and politics. But the number is still too small, it is necessary to increase the equally distributed equivalent percentage (EDEP) for the Economic Participation Index, Parliamentary Representation Index and Income Index.

Women in parliaments: Can they enhance environmental sustainability in the EU?

Environmental deterioration is a significant and multi-dimensional issue that concerns the modern world. During the last decades, research has been conducted to address this argument, intending to provide holistic policies that drive sustainable development. However, the European Union (EU) should further provoke the complementarity between growth and environmental quality. Recognizing that gender equality must be introduced in Agenda (2030), this paper intends to examine the impact of well-established macroeconomic and socioeconomic variables in existing literature alongside the role of women in governance. More specifically, this study uses panel data analysis to investigate the understanding of the effects of economic growth, renewable energy, human capital, female representation in parliaments, and environmental regulation on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 20 European countries from 2004 to 2018. Empirically, the study employs several econometric tests and approaches. Findings partially confirm the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis, while renewable energy and tertiary education enhance sustainability. Environmental regulation is significant for policymakers as it decreases pollution. The role of women in parliaments, which has been scarcely examined in existing literature, appears to be beneficial for the prosperity of EU societies. All empirical findings leave ample room for further discussion among European stakeholders and policymakers, emphasizing the importance of female participation in governance.

The media coverage of the European Union and the extreme right. A comparative study between Spain, France, and Italy

The parliamentary representation of far-right political parties is growing in several European Union countries, particularly after the Great Recession. This has increased the media attention they receive. These parties share eurosceptic positions or question the idea of European integration, but does their rise alter public discussion on the European Union? Using a quantitative content analysis (N=974) conducted in 6 media outlets: El País and El Mundo (Spain), Le Monde and Le Figaro (France), and Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica (Italy), the research describes and compares media coverage on issues related to the European Union before and after the Great Recession and how the rise of the far-right has affected the European public sphere. The results indicate that public discussion about the European Union is in decline and that national and top-down Europeanisation approaches are on the rise, coinciding with increased coverage of the far-right.

Modelling the asymmetric impact of economic growth and poverty on gender inequality: Evidence from India using nonlinear ARDL analysis

The study is based on the premise that economic growth (henceforth EG) and poverty impact men and women differently. As a result, shocks to these variables cannot be expected to have a symmetric impact on gender inequality (henceforth GI). Rather, positive and negative shocks in poverty and EG impact men and women asymmetrically which necessitates the study of their relationship using an asymmetric rather than a symmetric approach. This study is the first to utilise nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) analysis and asymmetric cumulative dynamic multipliers to investigate the asymmetric impact of EG and poverty on GI in India using annual data over the period 1995–2021. Additionally, we construct a comprehensive index of GI, using principle component analysis (PCA), which is a maiden attempt to account reported crime against women, in addition to gender disparities in health, education, labour market and parliamentary representation. The results report that positive shocks in EG reduce GI and negative shocks increase it. However, negative shocks increase GI more than positive shocks decrease it justifying the asymmetry. With respect to the asymmetric impact of poverty on GI, the study finds that both positive and negative shocks in poverty increase GI, however, the positive shock in poverty has a larger impact than the negative one. This is in consonance with the literature on intrahousehold gender disparities in consumption. The study finds new evidence that EG and poverty reduction favours men more than women and recommends its inclusion in policy formulation.

The Role of Women in Political Participation in Cambodia: A Case Study of Svay Rieng Province

The government considers women as the backbone of Cambodia's economy and society. Despite a good sign, the female parliamentary representation in Svay Rieng fluctuated in the last three mandates (60% in 2008 and 2013, 80% in 2018, and 60% in 2023). The study aims to investigate the “socioeconomic”, “traditional-cultural”, “family”, and “personal” factors affecting gender roles in political involvement in Svay Rieng province, to assess perceptions and attitudes regarding women's political engagement. A mixed-methods approach was utilized, administering surveys to 119 participants and semi-structured interviews with 8 women actively participating in politics and leadership roles, using snowball sampling. The findings emphasize 1) Family-factors (domestic responsibilities, violence, and lack of support) hinder women's political participation the most, 2) Personal factors: limited education and self-confidence, 3) Socio-economic obstacles (the social devaluation of women, violence against women, limited outreach initiatives, and the impact of economic crises), and 4) Traditional customs, cultural norms including prescribed gender roles further contribute to the challenges faced by women in politics. Despite these obstacles, the study identifies positive perceptions and attitudes towards women's political participation. Participants underlined the need to empower women at both the national and sub-national levels, as well as fostering capacity development and extending possibilities. The recommendations include adopting gender equality legislation, increasing awareness, improving capacity-building programs, providing supportive infrastructure, engaging male allies, promoting cooperation, and assuring long-term commitment. A future study should look at additional elements that may impact women's political engagement, as well as evaluate the efficiency of existing policies for empowering women in Svay Rieng.

The (changing) concept of democracy in (transforming) European populist radical right discourses: the case of Polish Law and Justice

ABSTRACT The populist radical right (PRR) has been actively engaged in the discursive struggle over the notion of democracy in Europe and beyond. This article examines how in practice PRR parties discursively construct and manipulate the concept of democracy. By taking a longitudinal comparative perspective on the political discourse of Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the Polish Law and Justice (PiS) party, in five consecutive electoral campaigns between 2007 and 2023, the article identifies key discursive strategies used to construct PRR conceptions of democracy. The analysis of PiS’s discourse in government and opposition shows that the PRR strives to fully appropriate the concept of democracy: when in power, the PRR discursively constructs (preserving) democracy as inseparable from the political status quo; while in opposition, it conditions (restoring) democracy with its accession to power. Despite numerous references to majoritarian conceptions of democracy and plebiscitary mechanisms and its claims to promote a radical democratic renewal, the PRR tends not to question the underlying principles of parliamentary representation. In practice, it discursively constructs a severely restricted version of democracy in which democratic participation essentially boils down to participation in elections. Hence, references to democracy are primarily used by the PRR to (emotionally) mobilise voters.

‘Do young legislators face age-based discrimination in parliament? Views from young MPs across the globe'

ABSTRACT There is a growing literature on youth representation in parliament illustrating a stark underrepresentation of adults aged 35 years or under, as well as 40 years or under, in most national legislatures across the globe. However, we know less about the kind of treatment young MPs receive once elected to parliament. Through a survey with structured and open-ended questions, featuring 144 young legislators across the globe, we illustrate that – judging by these perceptions – youths’ obstacles in politics do not stop at the electoral stage. A sizeable number of young MPs from our sample report that they experience ageism in many national legislatures. Most frequently, such perceived ageism is informal. In the view of young MPs, it manifests itself in subtle and not-so-subtle forms of discrimination and belittling treatment. For the broader literature on representation, this implies that the disadvantage youth face during elections might continue once in parliament, with the potential risk that this group of legislators has less influence in parliament than other groups.

Reaction and denial propaganda on social media

Introduction: For political organizations, social media, far from being a space for dialogue with citizens, have become another tool for unidirectional communication. Thus, this paper aims to deepen the propagandistic use of YouTube by political parties, focusing the case study on Andalusia, the Spanish region with the largest population and the first where the far-right party Vox achieved influential parliamentary representation. Methodology: Specifically, a content analysis was applied to 999 videos published throughout 2020 by political parties with representation in the Andalusian Parliament, considering variables such as the presence of the party symbols, the type of propaganda used and the reference to a rival political party. Results: Considering the foregoing, the results are discussed in terms of de-ideologization, populism, and the reduction of programmatic ideas. Conclusions: We find differences in the type of propaganda used (with emphasis on reaction and denial propaganda), pointing to a significant inability of political parties to propose alternatives, which is related to the rise of populism and the pseudo-abandonment of ideology.

The Rise and Decline of Ennahda Party

Abstract Tunisia’s democratic trajectory has seen much regression in the past decade after the toppling of the former regime of Ben Ali and the rise of Ennahda party to power, following Tunisia’s uprising. Employing democratic theory, the research contends that, despite growing popular discontent with Ennahda’s performance, Ennahda remained Tunisia’s leading party even with its declining parliamentary representation until the 2021 setback in Tunisia’s democratic path. People’s disappointment with Ennahda emanated from volatile politics and socio-economic problems rather than ideology, and although the party reconsidered its strategy, which enabled it to withstand fractured polity and secure a leading seat in the political landscape until Kais Said’s power grab in 2021, it still bore much responsibility for poor government performance. In conclusion, Said’s hold on power is likely to persist and the future of Ennahda, in light of the on-going consolidation of power in Tunisia, depends on domestic and international efforts to regain democracy.

The Political Representation of Women Politicians from Mass-Based Islamic Parties in Palembang City Regarding the Low Representation of Women in Legislative Bodies (A Study on the PAN and PKS Parties in Palembang City)

The background of this research provides an in-depth understanding of the representation of female politicians from Islamic mass-based parties in Palembang, highlighting the ongoing issue of insufficient female representation. Despite the implementation of a 30% quota, women's representation in parliament does not reach this threshold due to various obstacles to political participation. This research specifically examines the representation of female politicians in the PAN and PKS parties in Palembang to understand both the presence of female politicians in the city and the central-level policies supporting women in the region. In Palembang, the PAN party allocates a 38% quota for female politicians, while the PKS party allocates a 30% quota. This study employs descriptive qualitative methods and was conducted in Palembang. Data were collected through in-depth interviews using purposive sampling techniques. Primary data sources include interviews, while secondary data sources include literature reviews. The findings reveal that in the PAN party, women have a 38% quota, supported by an organization called National Mandate Women (PUAN) that handles recruitment. In the PKS party, the women's quota is 30%, with recruitment conducted through various channels, including assessments of cadres' abilities and expertise. The 2019 elections showed a shift, with women becoming more independent in their political decisions, previously influenced by men's political preferences.

Adopting restriction: how coalition governments respond to radical right parties

Radical right parties (RRPs) have gained representation in parliaments across Europe, but little is known about their impact on government policy. Even though RRPs tend to end up in opposition, they have considerable influence on policy making within coalition governments. One expectation is that coalition governments are tough on immigration to optimise voter support when being exposed to right-wing parties in parliament. Coalition negotiations temporarily reduce accountability and allow cabinets to adjust policy positions without bearing the costs associated with opportunistic behaviour. This argument is tested using novel data on pre-electoral policy positions and post-electoral immigration policies for coalition cabinets in 24 European democracies from 1980 to 2015. The findings reveal that governments shift to more restrictive immigration policies in face of RRPs. This article expands on prior research on the influence of the radical right by demonstrating its direct influence on coalition governments’ joint immigration policy plans.

Who gets the goods? Disentangling the effects of parliamentary representation and collective action on social spending

Abstract A century of activist and academic analysis of the welfare state can be sorted into insider and outsider theories of social change. One perspective argues that working-class and poor people can achieve income redistribution through insider strategies, primarily through the legislative efforts of left-wing political parties. A competing perspective argues that political parties themselves have no inner motor and merely channel the outside pressure from disruptive collective action. This article makes a substantive and methodological contribution to the debate over the generosity of the welfare state. We analyse the extent to which collective action confounds, moderates, or operates independently of left-wing parliamentary power to explain the history of social spending in 22 countries. Our results support a strong version of the insider intuition that the parliamentary road is crucial to winning gains for poor and working people. It does so without channelling the power of mass mobilization: accounting for various forms of collective action does not reduce the impact of left parliamentary representation on public social expenditures. Nonetheless, we do find that strikes, in particular, have independent effects on social spending. These results together provide some support for what can be called a Marxist–social democratic alliance. We also find evidence for the outsider view that protests and riots matter when combined; these mobilizations, like strikes, operate independently of the role of left-wing parliamentary power.

European Union politicians debating European language education policy

The European Union’s (EU) high regard for multilingualism and linguistic diversity is expressed through its language education policy (LEP), a policy adopted by the European Parliament, which represents all EU member states. However, as education falls within the remit of the member states, EU LEP has an advisory function only. Support for the LEP at national level is thus crucial. By analysing a significant parliamentary discussion by Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), this article asks what evidence there is that MEPs support the EU’s goals of learning the mother tongue plus two foreign languages (1+2), and of learning a diversity of languages at school. Secondly, the article investigates current evidence of the success of EU LEP in terms of developing dual language capacities, and of maintaining diversity in language learning. Figures on the learning of two languages, on the learning of English, and on linguistic diversity are compared, covering the last decade. The results reveal that although the training of dual linguists has stagnated, no MEP expressed concerns that the EU goals of 1+2 are not being met. MEPs are, however, concerned with protecting ‘their’ national languages, and the smaller ‘their’ own language(s), the more so. Furthermore, only representatives of large EU languages express concern over English dominance in the EU’s education systems. Thus, parliamentary representatives of smaller languages unite in solidarity for greater status recognition of their language, while MEPs’ support for the EU LEP goal of 1+2 is at best patchy. The article concludes that, given the limited remit of EU LEP, discrepancies between European recommendations and national practices are somewhat inevitable, and that to improve on the 1+2 goal and counter English dominance across education systems in the EU, member states need to be better supported to appreciate and disseminate the rationales for dual language learning (1+2) and diversity in language learning.

In the Name of “Freedom” and “Democracy”

This article examines the rise of the populist radical right in the Czech Republic, where this party family had no parliamentary representation for many years. We show that by clarifying its ideological profile, the SPD achieved results in accordance with the social marginality and welfare chauvinism hypothesis. This is also confirmed by a spatial analysis, which shows that success of the SPD relied especially on mobilizing voters in traditional strongholds of the Czech left. In contrast, the Czech case yielded only very small support for the group threat effect and only mixed results for a U-shaped effect of age.

Divisions within the British Parliamentary Labour Party under Keir Starmer: Results of a Cluster Analysis

This paper offers a methodologically innovative two-stage approach for studying divisions amongst parliamentary representatives. Using the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) as our case study, we construct a dataset of all Labour MPs elected in the 2019 general election, along with their nominations in the 2020 Labour Party leadership and deputy leadership elections and their membership of, or affiliation with, various party-aligned organisations. We then conduct a cluster analysis based on this dataset, which reveals the existence of a two-cluster model—comprised of the Mainstream (N = 162) and the Left (N = 33)—and a five-cluster model—in which the Left exists alongside the Tribune Soft Left, the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Soft Left, the Unaligned Centrists, and the Right. Finally, we test the robustness of our clusters via a canonical correspondence analysis of the language used by MPs on social media (Twitter/X) and their contributions to parliamentary debates (Hansard). We show that the MPs from different clusters do use different languages to one another in both fora. We also find that the main divide within the PLP is between the left of the party and the rest of the party, and that the deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has a broader base of support amongst the PLP than its current leader Keir Starmer.