Does intra-party democracy affect the geographic representativeness of political parties? A look at candidate selection methods in the Netherlands between 2002-2021

In this thesis we test the claim that intra-party democracy, measured as the inclusiveness of candidate selection, leads to less diverse candidate lists. Previously, this area of research has often conceptualised diversity in the form of women’s representation. To test whether previous findings also apply to other forms of descriptive representation, this thesis considers the geographic representativeness of parties. To do this, the Netherlands has been chosen as an ideal case due to its electoral system, which works as a single nationwide district. Twelve parties and seven elections between 2002 and 2021 were analysed with a multilevel linear regression model. The results suggest that inclusive candidate selection methods do not have a relevant effect on the geographic representativeness of parties. One finding is that rural parties are generally more geographically representative than urban parties. However, it remains unclear whether differences between urban or rural parties can...Show moreIn this thesis we test the claim that intra-party democracy, measured as the inclusiveness of candidate selection, leads to less diverse candidate lists. Previously, this area of research has often conceptualised diversity in the form of women’s representation. To test whether previous findings also apply to other forms of descriptive representation, this thesis considers the geographic representativeness of parties. To do this, the Netherlands has been chosen as an ideal case due to its electoral system, which works as a single nationwide district. Twelve parties and seven elections between 2002 and 2021 were analysed with a multilevel linear regression model. The results suggest that inclusive candidate selection methods do not have a relevant effect on the geographic representativeness of parties. One finding is that rural parties are generally more geographically representative than urban parties. However, it remains unclear whether differences between urban or rural parties can be explained by levels of intra-party democracy. For further research, it is suggested to include more data on rural parties.Show less

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Does intra-party democracy affect the geographic representativeness of political parties? A look at candidate selection methods in the Netherlands between 2002-2021