Political representation; Immigrants; Parliaments; Europe; Members of Parliament
Abstract :
[en] This chapter examines the profiles of immigrant origin (IO) MPs in terms of social
backgrounds and previous careers in eight European democracies: Belgium, France, Germany,
Greece, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. The first research goal of this
chapter is rather descriptive as we examine the extent to which IO MPs present different social
backgrounds and career paths to parliaments in comparison with non-IO MPs. Are they any
different from the ‘average’ non-IO MPs? Are they more or less representative of the voters than
non-IO MPs? Do IO MPs follow the same career paths to the parliamentary arena than the rest
of the MPs, or do they differ significantly from them? Based on the empirical findings to these
questions, the second research goal is to identify patterns of convergence and divergence in the
recruitment of non-IO MPs within and across the eight democracies under examination. The
establishment of regional/national patterns is a preliminary and necessary condition for further
and more refined ‘explanatory’ research studying the causes of cross-national variance.
Disciplines :
Political science, public administration & international relations
Author, co-author :
Dodeigne, Jérémy ; Université de Liège > R&D Direction : Chercheurs ULiège en mobilité
