Inclusive Democracies? Conceptualising and Measuring the Descriptive and Substantive Political Representation of Under-represented Groups in Democratic Parliaments

Project holder

• Laura MORALES (Sciences Po, CEE) 

Research team

• Sascha DIWERSY (PRAXILING, Université Paul Valéry)
• Giancarlo LUXARDO (PRAXILING, Université Paul Valéry) 
• Rainbow MURRAY (Queen Mary University of London)
• Olivier ROZENBERG (Sciences Po, CEE)
• Claire VINCENT-MORY (Sciences Po, CEE) 

Project description

The InclusiveParl project studies the connection between the descriptive political representation (the “presence) of seven marginalized groups (women, youth, working-class people, ethnic and migrant minorities, religious minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTI+ individuals) and their substantive political representation (the inclusion of their “interests” and demands in parliamentary activity and the policy agenda) in the national parliaments of four countries: France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. The InclusiveParl project analyses descriptive representation through a careful methodology that is based on the visibility of both self-definition and ascriptive elements of parliamentarians that make claims of their descriptive representation of any given group legitimate. Substantive representation is approached through the analysis of written questions submitted by legislators to the Executive, as well as the participation in the legislative process for selected pieces of legislation that directly affect the interests of given groups.

Understanding the visible representation gaps in democratic parliaments, a discussion with Laura Morales and Claire Vincent-Mory on the InclusiveParl project. 

Publications

Morales, Laura, Carles Pamies, and Claire Vincent-Mory. 2026. “Career facilitators, springboards, and allies: Examining the factors that foster the careers of politicians with immigrant ancestry.” In Democracy at the Crossroads – Challenges for Governance and Representation: Essays in Honour of Thomas Saalfeld, eds. Jorge M. Fernandes and Javier Martínez-Cantó. London: Routledge.