Democracy and Elections seminar: 'Benefits of Diversity: why do political parties recruit women and BME MPs and what does it mean for representation?'
| Dates: | 10 February 2016 |
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| Times: | 15:30 - 15:30 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
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| How much: | Free |
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| Speaker: | Dr Maria Sobolewska |
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Benefits of Diversity: why do political parties recruit women and BME MPs and what does it mean for representation?'
With Dr Maria Sobolewska
With party diversity high on the agenda of the nation's media, academia and the commentariat, few ask if British voters truly care about whether the party's MPs are white, male and stale or otherwise. Do all of them care equally? And do all parties get judged on their diversity- or lack thereof- in the same way? Can party diversity really win or lose votes? This paper answers some of these questions empirically and raises an important theoretical question: is our normative thinking about benefits of descriptive representation outdated? This paper will try to extend the classic theory of political representation to incorporate the changes in empirical reality of the relationship of representation. The main argument made here is that the audience of representation has been shifting away from the relationship between the principals (electors) and agents (elected). As a result, a nexus of descriptive and substantive representation is broken and the notion of- to date largely ignored- symbolic representation assumes central stage.
Travel and Contact Information
Find event
Room 2:07
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester
