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Seminar on the State and Capitalism since 1800

Who Speaks for the Poor: Electoral Geography, Party Entry and Representation?


March 24, 2017
2:15pm - 4:00pm
Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall
March 24, 2017
2:15pm - 4:00pm
Hoffmann Room, Adolphus Busch Hall

Please note: there is no paper for this talk

This talk will present the argument of a forthcoming book, Who Speaks for the Poor? that explains why political parties represent some groups but not others. Jusko offers a new explanation for the absence of a low-income peoples’ party in the US, and a more general account of political inequality in contemporary democracies.Her book focuses on the electoral geography of income and how it has changed over time in order to account for cross-national differences in the partisan representation of low-income voters.It develops a general theory of new party formation that shows how changes in the geographic distribution of groups across electoral districts create opportunities for new parties to enter electoral competition, especially where such changes favor groups formerly excluded from local partisan networks. Empirical evidence is drawn from a comparative analysis of all new party entries and from historical case studies, focusing on the strategic incentives for entry of new people’s parties.



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