Political opportunity structures and the representation of women and visible minorities in municipal elections

Are women and visible minorities more likely to contest and win municipal elections under different institutional and contextual circumstances? We examine this question using data collected on 934 individual candidates who sought election in twenty-two large and mid-sized cities during the 2014 muni...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Electoral studies 2017-08, Vol.48, p.10-18
Main Authors: Spicer, Zachary, McGregor, Michael, Alcantara, Christopher
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Candidates
Cities
Electoral reform
Females
Local elections
Minority groups
Municipal government
Opportunity structures
Political campaigns
Representation
Women
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Are women and visible minorities more likely to contest and win municipal elections under different institutional and contextual circumstances? We examine this question using data collected on 934 individual candidates who sought election in twenty-two large and mid-sized cities during the 2014 municipal election cycle in Ontario, Canada. The influence of three types of political opportunity structure on the ‘decision to run’ for female and minority candidates is examined, as well as the ability of these candidates to win when they do stand for election. While we uncover no evidence that such structures affect candidacy, our results do indicate district magnitude is negatively correlated with the likelihood of female and minority victory. This finding conflicts with the existing literature on the topic and has implications for debates on electoral reform and the representation of women and minorities.
ISSN:0261-3794
1873-6890
DOI:10.1016/j.electstud.2017.01.002