Age representation in parliaments: Can institutions pave the way for the young?

Stockemer, Daniel; Sundström, Aksel

doi:10.1017/s1755773918000048

Cited by 71 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 56 publications

(71 reference statements)

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“…In the United Kingdom, for instance, members of the House of Commons in their 20s (18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29) and over the age of 70 constitute a small share of the total number of MPs, 2% and 4% respectively, markedly smaller than their share of the UK population (Lambrinakou 2015). Similar patterns are observed in advanced democracies such as France, Australia and New Zealand (where data on age-group composition are publicly available -for the average age of parliamentarians in several countries, see Stockemer and Sundström 2016) -whereas the US Congress and the Italian Senate have constitutional bans on younger candidates. It is worth exploring the extent to which there are analogies to the arguments invoked in the case of women in politics.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Is Age a Case for Electoral Quotas? A Benchmark for Affirmative Action in Politics

Trantidis¹

2016

Representation

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Is age a suitable case for electoral quotas on the same grounds invoked for women in politics? If affirmative action should not be arbitrarily applied to a few social groups, we must specify the conditions that could serve as a benchmark which a group must pass in order to qualify for its application. Drawing from the literature on women in politics, this article sets up empirical indicators to examine the political under-representation of younger and older age groups: whether the agerelated pattern of political under-representation is linked to stereotypes and bias that negatively affect its engagement in politics, and whether these age groups face special issues that give them a unique perspective, which only those who directly experience them can fully advocate in decision-making fora. Affirmative action raises questions about the boundaries of identity, the limits of politics as a vehicle for social change and the meaning of electoral choice.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 55%

Is Age a Case for Electoral Quotas? A Benchmark for Affirmative Action in Politics

Trantidis¹

2016

Representation

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“…Therefore, processes of ‘old boys’ networks’ are likely to favour the advancement of male politicians (Bjarnegård ), where women are seen as ‘outsiders’ (Krook ). Young candidates are likely to face the same outsider status (see Joshi ; Stockemer & Sundström ). Whether male or female, they seldom have sufficient connections within party networks to get nominated or elected.…”

Section: Age Groups Gender and Political Recruitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The difference between these three age groups roughly associates an MEP with one distinct generation. Defining young parliamentarians as those aged 40 years and below also follows the recent literature on youth representation (see Joshi , ; Stockemer & Sundström ).…”

Section: Variables and Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Do young female candidates face double barriers or an outgroup advantage? The case of the European Parliament

Stockemer

Sundström

2018

European J Political Res

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While intersectionality is a recurrent theme in the literature on women's political representation, few studies empirically disentangle who are the women who get elected to parliaments. An argument on biases in recruitment practices suggests that those who are members of more than one outgroup, such as young women, benefit from an ‘outgroup advantage’. In elections, a candidate with two outgroup features might attract more voter support than a candidate with just one outgroup feature. Hence, nominating a candidate that is both young and female could be a rational move by (male) elites in political parties that allows them to open fewer seats to newcomers. These expectations are tested on data for all members of the European Parliament since 1979. Not only is it found that women's presence increased steadily throughout the parliament's history, but also that women's representation is consistently highest among the group of young representatives, lower among middle‐aged Members of the European Parliament and lowest among older representatives.

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“…Another recent development is the introduction of youth quotas in national parliaments, either in the form of legislated candidate quotas—for example, Tunisia and Kyrgyzstan—or reserved seats—for example, Rwanda (Belschner & Garcia de Paredes, 2020; Dobbs, 2020). These corrective measures, however, remain quite rare and have ambiguous effects (Belschner & Garcia de Paredes, 2020; Dobbs, 2020; Stockemer & Sundström, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gerontocracy in a comparative perspective: Explaining why political leaders are (almost always) older than their constituents

Magni-Berton

Panel

2020

Sociology Compass

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Gerontocracy, in its narrowest sense, refers to political systems ruled by elderly people, whether de jure or de facto. Although formal gerontocratic rules are progressively disappearing, contemporary political systems are still governed by individuals who are significantly older than the mean voter. This article reviews existing explanations for the prevalence of gerontocracy. To summarize main findings, gerontocracy cannot be explained by the leadership qualities of older rulers: aging leaders do not perform better in office and voters seem to be aware of it. Instead, existing research suggests that gerontocracy can be explained by strategic considerations. In autocracies, the selectorate tends to choose aging leaders in order to reduce their expected tenure length. In democracies, voters are more likely to select experienced candidates, which they expect to be more effective at advancing the interests of their constituency: this premium put on experience mechanically lengthens political careers and increases the age of the average politician. Finally, older voters, which participate more in politics, tend to prefer older politicians, because they (correctly) expect them to better defend their own interests.

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Age representation in parliaments: Can institutions pave the way for the young?

Cited by 71 publications

References 56 publications

Is Age a Case for Electoral Quotas? A Benchmark for Affirmative Action in Politics

Is Age a Case for Electoral Quotas? A Benchmark for Affirmative Action in Politics

Do young female candidates face double barriers or an outgroup advantage? The case of the European Parliament

Gerontocracy in a comparative perspective: Explaining why political leaders are (almost always) older than their constituents

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