Mapping institutional mechanisms of ethno-national representation: towards a better measurement approach

Abstract

Measuring institutional mechanisms that facilitate ethno-national representation is a difficult enterprise. Most studies examine the electoral system, while a set of other indices focus on designs and policies related to minority recognition. This article addresses a number of gaps in the existing literature by taking a wide view that considers a breadth of institutional designs that facilitate representation in a political system. The goal is to recalibrate our theoretical and empirical approach to measuring ethno-national representation – to move beyond narrower assessments based solely on the electoral system, while also providing additional depth and breadth to existing indices and studies of related aspects of institutional design. To achieve this goal, the article (1) constructs an analytical framework that accounts for the institutional mechanisms that facilitate the direct and indirect representation of ethno-national minorities across both macro-level and micro-level institutional designs in a state and (2) applies this framework to map institutional designs in twelve states to provide an indication of the usefulness of a new measurement tool (a representation index). The argument is that this framework and tool provide a corrective to the limitations of current approaches, advancing our ability to measure the institutional mechanisms of minority representation.