Democratic Legitimacy or Regional Representation

Support for Upper Chamber Reform in Scotland and Quebec

Bibliographic Data

ID6312867
AuthorsMike Medeiros (0000-0001-7359-272X, University of Amsterdam, corresponding author), Damien Bol (0000-0002-1896-1294, King's College London), Richard Nadeau (0009-0005-1392-3538, Université de Montréal)
Year2018
Volume71
Issue4
Pages738-759
Publication date2018-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueParliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/pa/gsy004
OpenAlexW2786146446
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited40

This article studies support for upper chamber reforms in multinational countries. In his seminal work on the topic, Lijphart argues that the upper chamber can be used to accommodate minority groups. However, to date, we still know very little about the perception of minority populations of this institution. We explore this topic building upon an original survey experiment conducted in Scotland and Quebec, where there has been a recent debate about reforming the upper chamber. The results demonstrate that the national minorities in the UK and Canada strongly support a reform of the upper chamber. Also, we find that a reform that would increase the democratic legitimacy of the institution is more popular than one that would foster the regional representation of the minority group, even among respondents who report a strong regional identity

Democracy · Identity (music · Institution · Legitimacy · Multinational corporation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Sociology · Work (physics · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · European Union Policy and Governance · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub