Doctoral Dissertation Research in Political Science: Descriptive Representatives and Institutional Context

William Marsh Rice University, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

Does better descriptive representation of traditionally underrepresented groups lead to better substantive representation of their interests in policy-making? In other words, do individuals elected to represent a group that has been previously underrepresented (e.g., the indigenous in Bolivia) demonstrate distinctly different policy views than those representatives who have traditionally held power? Does the strength of the link between descriptive and substantive representation depend on the types of institutional mechanisms designed to enhance descriptive representation, the types of parties descriptive representatives belong to, or the strength of party control over their behavior? This project will attempt to provide answers to these questions as they pertain to one important form of substantive representation: the expression of policy views of descriptive representatives in legislative deliberations. It examines the deliberative behavior of descriptive representatives both on more traditional issues commonly explored in political science literature (e.g., land rights for indigenous representatives in Latin America, or social welfare policy for black representatives in the U.S.) and a wide variety of political issues that are arguably more salient to the general public (e.g., foreign policy, tax policy, and healthcare policy). In doing so, it develops an original measure of substantive representation that maps patterns in speeches during committee debates to uncover whether representatives from underrepresented groups espouse significantly different policy views than representatives from historically represented groups. It will explain and show how the political context conditions legislator behavior and determines the extent to which we should see differences between descriptive and more traditional representatives. Building on previous work, the researcher proposes a contextual theory of substantive representation that accounts for why political context should affect the behavior of descriptive representatives in particular, thereby mitigating the link between descriptive and substantive representation. The researcher tests the theoretical argument using a sample of Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru) where there is cross-national and temporal variation across the three different political contexts (i.e., the extent of party control, the type of party, and the institutional mechanism used for increasing descriptive representation) and where the committee deliberations appear to serve the same purpose cross-nationally, which is 1) to set the terms of the policy debate and 2) to signal to constituents that legislators are working on their behalf. Field research for this project, which will be conducted in the legislative archives of each country, involves collecting and scanning committee debates as machine-readable documents, and the empirical analysis involves converting the text into data using automated content analysis to uncover patterns in speeches across representatives. This project makes a substantial contribution by demonstrating whether or not changing the 'face' of the legislature has a significant impact on policy-making. It will uncover if electing members from a historically underrepresented group has an impact on how that group is represented, and if these newly elected descriptive representatives are doing anything different than traditional representatives. More importantly, the project will explore how the political context affects legislator behavior and mitigates the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation. This has a profound impact on understanding just how government can influence everyday life and the effects it has on democratic stability.