Electoral geography of the representation of marginalized ethnic-racial groups in Brazil: mirror representation?
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Keywords: political representation, electoral geography, marginalized grups, Brazil, 2020 elections.
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract
Authors:
Daniel Azevedo, Universidade de Brasília
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Abstract
The political representation of marginalized groups is an important issue for democracy. The idea that representatives must be sociological mirrors of the population (mirror representation) grows, making the 2020 election in Brazil the one with the largest number of black and women candidates and elected officials in history. As a result of civic dynamics that seek to break utopias of racial harmony in Brazil, a vision of mirror representation gains strength, that is, the elected must not only represent similar ideas of citizens, but also reflect predominant ethnic-racial characteristics. The research proposes to answer the following question: has the growth of elected representatives from marginalized groups established a mirror representation in the main Brazilian cities in the 2020 elections?
The hypothesis is that the mirror representation starts from a particular spatial logic of the vote, affecting the parliamentary performance and its electoral strategies, since the literature points out how political actors act differently according to the spatial distribution of their voters. The methodology consists of two steps: first, mapping the vote of black candidates in Brazilian capitals in the 2020 elections, tracing spatial statistical correlations; second, a qualitative research with mirror candidates monitoring parliamentary performance. Preliminary results suggest that the growth in representation of marginalized groups in Brazil in 2020 was not produced by a mirror-representation dynamic, but, despite this, the parliamentary action of the elected seeks this representative logic.
Electoral geography of the representation of marginalized ethnic-racial groups in Brazil: mirror representation?
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Paper Abstract