Proportional Representation Reduces Ethnic Voting, Challenging Common Wisdom

Title

Measuring Ethnic Voting: Do Proportional Electoral Laws Politicize Ethnicity?

This paper introduces four measures to quantify ethnicization in electoral behavior — how much voters prioritize their ethnic identity when making choices. These measures capture increases as ethnic identity becomes more central.

Theoretical Dimensions

• Group Focus vs Party Focus: Measures differ between emphasizing voting patterns of groups or the political alignment of those groups.
• Fractionalization vs Polarization: One set views more fragmented representation (groups) as problematic; another focuses on problems arising from divided representation (two large parties).

Key Findings

Survey data from 43 countries reveals a clear pattern: Proportional Representation electoral systems are associated with significantly lower levels of ethnic voting compared to other systems. This finding stands in sharp contrast to the widely held assumption that PR actually increases ethnic political salience.

Why It Matters for Political Science

This counterintuitive result offers important nuance to our understanding of how institutional design influences electoral behavior and identity politics. The findings suggest that concerns about "ethnicization" may stem from misinterpreting the relationship between electoral systems and voter priorities.