Forum:
Political Committee
Issue:
The issue regarding the political representation of
minorities in governments
Student Officer:
Ceylan Ersoy
Position:
President
Introduction
Minority is defined in the dictionary as “a racial, ethnic, religious, or social subdivision
of a society that is subordinate to the dominant group in political, financial” and
similar classifications. Their participation in politics and governments has been a
st
fundamental issue since the constructions of most basic societies. Yet, in the 21
century, migration waves and increased globalization presents a greater number of
minorities for specifically European countries.
With increasing numbers, the issue raised a multitude of questions regarding the
political representation of minorities, their say in voting procedures and government
related matters, their participation in politics and government, their rights and many
other aspects on political inclusion. Although an ideal democracy should provide
every citizen, regardless of their class, with the same political rights,
underrepresentation of minorities by governments still continues. Since in the basic
structure of democracies citizens choose those who represent them, the elected
group of representatives should directly reflect the reality of the population, including
the minorities.
Gender differences, ethnic minorities, religious sects, and economic divisions: all are
possible subjects for the cause of underrepresentation in governments. From the
minimal number of individuals coming from groups that are considered minorities, to
the small extent of action taken for the satisfaction and need of these groups,
minorities have difficulty expressing their position and getting their voice heard in
political platforms.
Definition of Key Terms
Ethnicity: It is a “category of people who identify with each other based on common
ancestral, social, cultural, or national experiences.” Ethnicity is based primarily on
inheritance rather than other separating classifications.
Separatism: Separatism is “the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal,
religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group.”
Separatism usually results in political secession.
Affirmative action: Affirmative action are government created programs that are
aimed at providing minority groups with advantages so that they can be considered in
the same social class as the majority. For instance, extra quotas for minorities are
examples for affirmative action.
Dominant minority: This term is used to classify a group of minority that possesses
economic, cultural or political dominance although they are smaller in number when
compared to the general population.
Marginalization: Marginalization or social exclusion is an action that separates
specific groups of individuals and denying them of their rights, privileges and
resources that are available to another group. These resources can be housing,
health services, employment etc.
Underrepresentation: Underrepresentation is most basically implying that a group
or an individual is lower in certain values than they actually are. In the case of
minorities, political underrepresentation is deeming minorities a lower value than the
reality.
General Overview
Political representatives being chosen from the elite classes of the society is
unfortunately a rather common phenomenon. Although most countries that are
subject to this phenomenon are ruled strictly by a democratic regime and have an
established democratic election system, underrepresentation is commonly inevitable
for minorities. A government should be elected to represent a microcosm of the
actual society.
Underrepresentation usually occurs when specific groups are generally excluded
from the representative sect. These groups are mainly subject to gender, ethnic,
economic, disability, racial or religious based separations. Yet, this separation poses
a question: “Is it better to have more educated, cultured, enlightened elites represent
a society or should the representatives reflect the whole of society?” The majority has
been supporting the elitist rule for centuries, yet current government ideals favor the
latter. “It is increasingly important that parties and legislatures be (or appear to be)
inclusive and demographically representative of the broader society.”
A multitude of organizations and countries have been working to take action
regarding the matter. For instance The International Institute for Democracy and
Electoral Assistance (IDEA) provides global assistance for women quotas in political
candidates and mandates these quotas by law and constitutions in a plethora of
countries. This means that there are definite numbers that are enforced by IDEA for
the minimum number of women candidates that will be a member in the political
party. Although the reliability and effectiveness of these quotas are questionable, it
still demonstrates the intentions of countries and political parties to promote minority
attendance in government affairs and a gender-balanced representation.
Yet, this is not the case for most ethnic minorities. In addition to the lack in number of
ethnic minorities chosen as representative in politics, the ones that are chosen are
dominant national minorities. Moreover, the states that do implement the rules
regarding ethnic minorities in government usually do so because of their countries’
social necessities. For instance, non-democratic states are partially required to recruit
ethnic minorities within their governments in order to support ethnic peace. In
addition, quotas for ethnic minorities are severely minimal.
Minorities’ participation in politics is regarded as “low rates of registration and voting,
distrust towards middle and higher levels of representation and difficult coordination,
if any, between local and national levels of representation.” (Marques and Santos,
2004, pg. 114) Representation can be divided into three sub divisions: “formal,
descriptive and substantive.” Formal representation is a structure based
representation that consists of authorization and accountability. Descriptive
representation refers to a representative’s role in reflecting a group larger than
himself/herself. This type of representation requires that minorities, therefore, take
active part in politics. Substantive representation is the claims and needs of
representatives that satisfy the needs and wishes of the society. The issue created
for minorities here occurs if “dominant political culture interferes with the access of
their interests and demands to the political agenda”.
To tackle the issue of underrepresentation and to make politics a platform
representative of not only majorities but also minorities, action must be taken
regarding each form of representation.
Major Parties Involved and Their Views
Turkey
The most basic minority crises in Turkey right now are the Kurdish and Syrian
minority crises. The Turkish government has changed their domestic policy since with
the influence of the Arab Spring; Kurdish people raised their voices for cultural and
territorial rights. The Peace and Democracy Party that passed the high election
threshold level in the last election represented the group. The threshold primarily
posed a barrier for the political representation of this minority group. According to the
European Council “the national 10 per cent threshold was the highest of all the
thresholds applied in the member states of the Council of Europe.” Many individual
candidates were denied their right to run for the election due to the threshold as well
as cases of false accusations that restricted most Kurdish candidates. These
restrictions lead to more tension between the Kurdish groups and Turkish
government.
UNESCO
UNESCO is known for their actions regarding preserving the rights of minorities in
various fields. Although most of their actions generally concern the educational rights
of these minorities, these actions have been affecting the political representation of
th
minorities as a direct result. In June 9 of 1996, UNESCO released a resolution
named the Universal Declaration on Linguistic Rights in the World Conference of
Linguistic Rights in Barcelona. This declaration stated that minorities could be divided
according to their languages, although geographical barriers may separate them.
Nevertheless, the declaration also states that, despite these linguistic or similar
barriers, all groups would have the same rights, including political.
United States of America
The United States has been named, together with the Netherlands, the country with
the best representation standard for minorities. Immigration policies and
governmental legislations allow for immigrants to become citizens that have a voting
right. Most minority groups, with African Americans having the largest population,
have full political rights, although their numbers in participation still remain low. The
minority issue is subject to a lot of attention due to the aims of certain political parties.
Nevertheless, the absence of quotas in the country and the majoritarian single
member district system poses an acute issue for women’s participation.
France
France’s name has been used together with “incumbency factor” when it comes to
the issue of political representation of minorities. Incumbency is the belief that
electing a candidate with proven electoral appeal is better than an unproven
candidate. The issue specifically creates problems for minorities, who have no choice
but to be underrepresented in the issue. France “allows sitting members of
parliament to hold several elected offices simultaneously. Thus, even when a deputy
loses his seat in the National Assembly, he usually remains incumbent elsewhere,
usually as mayor of his hometown, and often as a regional councillor as well “ (Bird)
This procedure is called “cumul des mandats”. Those who are responsible of the
selection are presented, therefore, with candidates that are seemingly less desirable
and choose what the majority would favor.
Timeline of Events
1808
The slave importation to the United
States is prohibited.
1848
Seneca Falls Convention (also known as
the Women Rights Convention) that
allows equal voting rights to women
occurs. The Declaration of Sentiments
and Resolutions is signed.
1896
National Association of Colored Women
is created to promote equal voting rigts
for all women.
July, 2 1964
Civil Rights Act is signed by the
President Johnson, restricting
discrimination of all kinds.
June, 28 1978
Regents of the University of California, in
the Supreme Court case created
restrictions for affirmative action
supported by President Johnson to
cease reverse discrimination. The
president stated that the concept of
affirmative action was, contrary to
common belief, increasing the
discrimination in the field of politics,
thereby leading to reverse
discrimination.
July, 19 1995
The White House presents certain
guidelines for the affirmative action.
President Clinton states that the
affirmative action such as quotas and so
on are creating a negative impact
against discrimination.
June 23, 2003
“Supreme Court Upholds Affirmative
Action in University Admissions”
November 6, 2012
Oklahoma voters approve the banning of
affirmative action in state representative
selection procedures.
UN Involvement
According to the resolution by the United Nations General Assembly “Declaration on
the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic
Minorities” the one of the main purposes of the UN is to achieve “international
cooperation in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for
fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.”
This statement is also relevant to the UN Charter that strictly states that whether
minority or majority all UN actions are for the sake of the good of the humanity, free
of classifications.
In this respect the United Nations, together with multiple governments, has taken a
positive position in the issue of political representation of minorities in governments.
Despite their lack of definite action in the issue, their resolutions on the issue of
minorities suggest that they are in favor of positive action towards including minorities
in political systems and their proper representation in governments.
Relevant UN Documents
Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and
nd
Linguistic Minorities- 92 Plenary Meeting (18 December 1992, A/RES/47/135)
Fate of Minorities- General Assembly Resolution 217 (10 December 1948,
A/RES/3/217 C)
International Bill of Human Rights- General Assembly (10 December 1948,
A/RES/3/217)
Treaties and Events
There are 3 types of treaties signed and ratified in the issue of minorities: unilateral
declarations, bilateral and multilateral treaties. A good example for a unilateral
declaration is “Declaration by the government of Greece, issued 29 September 1924”
concerning the guidelines to be taken by the Greek government regarding minorities
in politics.
An example for a bilateral treaty is “Austrian–Czechoslovak treaty, concluded 7 June
1920. Ratifications exchanged in Vienna, March 10, 1921. Registered in League of
Nations Treaty Series on 29 March 1921”.
An example for a multilateral treaty is the “Treaty between the Principal Allied and
Associated Powers and Roumania, signed at Paris on 9 December 1919 and went
into effect on 16 July 1920. Ratified by the British government on 12 January 1921,
by the Japanese government on 25 January 1921 and by the Italian government on 3
March 1921. Registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on 21 July 1921.”
All these declarations and treaties demonstrate that no action in particular has been
taken in a global scale and viable guidelines have not been constructed. The only
action taken on the issue is national and local legislations supported by several
countries.
Evaluation of Previous Attempts to Resolve the Issue
Most actions taken regarding the matter have been campaigns of NGOs and similar
organizations that failed to take action in the global scale. An example to such locally
effective attempts to solve the issue could be UNESCO’s initiative “Multicultural
Policies and Modes of Citizenship in European Cities” that aims to integrate
minorities into political decision-making processes.
Possible Solutions
The Political Opportunity Structure (POS) model may be a viable solution to the
issue. The model, primarily founded in order to create legitimate claims for social
movements is now used as a citizenship and integration model. The founder Tarrow
describes the model as: “A political opportunity structure consists of consistent but
not necessarily formal or permanent dimensions of political environment that provide
incentives for people to undertake collective action by affecting their expectations for
success or failure” (Koopmans and Statham, 2000) Hence, the model explains
opportunities that are available, restrictions, constraints and so forth. In light of the
model, minorities can take definitive action.
Moreover, media plays a key role in the misrepresentation of minorities since social
media organs have a tendency to pose derogatory remarks and create
generalizations towards minorities. Through the use of media and possible
educational opportunities through workshops, public seminars, the public can be
informed about the truth of minorities and their rights. Regarding minorities as equal
human beings and not separate classes, political fields will most probably create
more available opportunities for minorities to be properly represented in politics.
Notes from the Chair
The specific definitions of key concepts are crucial to take active part in the debate.
Please keep in mind to regard all types of minorities while finding solution and not
just a specific group of minorities such as immigrants. You may find that researching
current events and legislations very helpful.
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