Ongoing Research
Single-Authored Manuscripts
Young Adult Representation in U.S. State Legislatures
Abstract
The underrepresentation of young adults in legislative bodies in the United States represents a democratic deficit. Nonetheless, little is known about the factors that shape their underrepresentation in this context. In this article, I examine the severity of young adults’ underrepresentation in U.S. state legislatures and explore how four institutional mechanisms help to explain representational variations across the states. I demonstrate that 1) young adults in the voting age population are underrepresented in state legislative lower chambers by an average factor of 3, but that some states are better performers than others for the period 2018-2022; 2) a combination of institutional arrangements can positively impact young adults’ descriptive representation: the harmonization of voter and candidate age requirements, increased legislative professionalism, and the use of term limits and single-member districts. This article thus contributes both to our knowledge of young adult representation in a critical case and to the scholarship on subnational politics.
Citation
Anlar, Brit. 2023. "Inclusive Cultures: Young Adult Representation in U.S. State Legislatures." Revise & Resubmit.
A Disrupted Pipeline?
Youth Parties and the Impact of Political Violence on Progressive Ambition
Youth Parties and the Impact of Political Violence on Progressive Ambition
Abstract
Despite being one of the largest pools of future political leaders, young party members are a largely understudied group. While there is an interest to understand their motivations for becoming young party members, we know much less about young people’s political ambition and the factors that impact their decision to seek political positions, to remain party foot soldiers, or to drop out of party engagement entirely. Although there are many experiences that can shape the ambition of young people, one thing is for certain, if you have ambition and you want to get ahead in politics, you must have experience, be “seen” by your fellow party members, and following that, be well-connected.
One of the most concerning drawbacks is the potential exposure to online violence and harassment. While there has been a growing effort to define violence against women in politics (VAWiP), and to draw attention to and investigate how women in political positions experience different forms of violence, there are fewer investigations that focus on the impact of political violence and harassment and even fewer that examine age as an intersecting category of interest.
Drawing on unique qualitative interviews conducted with young Swedish and Norwegian political party members, in this paper I ask how young future politicians experience violence and harassment and the impacts that this has on their progressive political ambition and behavior. Preliminary findings suggest that young party members do experience semiotic, physical, and psychological violence and that these phenomena are gendered. Early findings also suggest that experiencing such forms of harassment does alter behavior, but this varies both by gender and with experience level.
Citation
Anlar, Brit. 2022. A Disrupted Pipeline? Youth Parties and the Impact of Political Violence & Harassment on Progressive Political Ambition. Presented at APSA, Montreal.
Revisiting the Black Box: Youth and Candidate Selection Methods
Abstract
Youth representation, globally, is disproportionately low—less than 3 percent of all MPs, globally, are under the age of 30 (IPU, 2019). Despite this, to date political science scholars have paid little attention to the question of age. Moreover, women and politics scholars have only recently begun to ask how age may affect representation as an intersecting barrier to political success. What little research does exist has focused on the parliamentary level leaving out the crucial role of party gatekeepers and a potential “majority gatekeeper affect”. This paper, therefore, seeks to fill a gap in representation literature by examining candidate selection methods and youth representation. In this particular study I focus on four Turkish political parties with a particular focus on candidate selection methods. The paper seeks to answer questions concerning candidate selection methods that enable and inhibit the greater representation of young people. Preliminary results show support that when youth are included in candidate selection, the descriptive representation of young people increases. I also find that in the case of Turkey, there is a “majority gatekeeper affect” where young women are the biggest losers often ending up in the least winnable seat positions.
Citation
Anlar, Brit. 2019. Revisiting the Black Box: Youth Representation and Candidate Selection Methods. Presented at ECPG, Amsterdam.
Co-authored Manuscripts
Political Representation 2.0: Youth, the LGBTQ+ Community, and People with
Disabilities
Abstract
Campaigns to increase diversity in politics around the world have long focused on gender, race, and class. In recent years, however, scholars and activists have begun to explore the political dimensions of three further identities: age, sexual orientation and gender identity, and disability. In this article, we provide an overview of incipient research on these three “new” groups, highlighting why they deserve closer attention from political scientists. Drawing on academic and policy publications, we outline how each group is defined and argued to be politically relevant, what current research suggests in relation to four dimensions of representation, and what is being done or proposed around the globe to increase the political presence of these groups. In addition to reinforcing existing insights on gender, race, and class, we find that investigating these “new” groups problematizes existing approaches in at least three ways, highlighting the constructed nature of all group identities, the need for a continuum-based approach to understanding and mitigating group exclusions in politics, and multiple and interacting exclusions across “old” and “new” groups. A broad lens on identity and politics thus opens up new avenues of research, while also advancing ongoing efforts in practice to address inequalities in political representation.
Citation
Anlar, Brit, Mona Lena Krook, and Haley V. Norris. 2023. Political Representation 2.0: Youth, the LGBTQ+ Community, and People with Disabilities. Under Review.
Youth Representation in Parliaments: A Historical Perspective and New Dataset
Abstract
Scholars have extensively studied the parliamentary descriptive representation of women and ethnic groups, but less is known about the historical representation of young adults in parliaments. Here we address this gap in the literature by providing a new global dataset to the public on youth representation in parliaments capturing over 950 elections for 253 chambers in 181 countries over the period from 1971 to 2023. Beginning with a literature review on normative, casual, and consequential features of parliamentary youth representation, we then introduce our dataset by providing a descriptive-exploratory historical analysis of major trends in youth representation over the past five decades. Empirically identifying longitudinal patterns of persistent absence, decreasing representation, increasing representation, and persistent presence, we conclude by emphasizing the importance of reversing the global trend towards greater exclusion of youths in parliament and learning from Western Europe as the only world region where youth representation has actually increased.
Citation
Joshi, Devin and Brit Anlar. 2023. Youth Representation in Parliaments: A Historical Perspective and New Dataset. Revise & Resubmit.
Age Gaps in Political Representation, Comparing Local and National Elections
Abstract
This article compares the relationship between candidate age and political selection in local and national elections. Through the use of detailed candidate register data from Finland, covering information on over 3.6 million candidates in six municipal and national elections between 2011 and 2021, we test two competing hypotheses: the "springboard" hypothesis, which suggests that local politics is more accessible for young politicians due to its lower level of competition, and the "parachuting" hypothesis, which posits that parties and voters will be willing to champion promising young candidates in national electoral contests. Our findings support the "parachuting" hypothesis, revealing that while national elections are more competitive, comparatively more young candidates are running in these contests. Additionally, we find that young candidates in national elections have an equal likelihood of success as older candidates, while they are significantly less successful than the latter in municipal contests. These results suggest that both political parties and voters seem to place less emphasis on seniority in national than in municipal elections.
Citation
Sipinen, Josefina, Jana Belschner, and Brit Anlar. Age Gaps in Political Representation: Comparing Local and National Elections. Revise & Resubmit.
Millennials in the US Congress
Abstract
In this article we provide a historical context of youth representation in Congress since 1980 and utilize unique data on the last elections to answer a series of questions about youth political representation. We find that Millennials are underrepresented despite rising numbers of candidates and that Millennial representation is differentially gendered and racialised, depending on partisanship. We contribute to the emerging research on youth political representation and to intersectional analyses of legislatures, showing the entanglement of age, gender, and race.
Citation
Köhler, I., & Anlar, B. Millennials in the U.S. Congress: a new kind of wave?. Presented at IPSA 2021.
Party Conformists or Extremists? Young Candidates in the 2021 Finnish Municipal Elections
Abstract
Author Details
Veikko Isotalo is a PhD Candidate at the University of Helsinki.
Citation
Isotalo, Veikko and Brit Anlar. Party Conformists or Extremists? Young Candidates in the 2021 Finnish Municipal Elections. Presented at departmental seminar October 2022.
Understanding dynamics of intra-party incongruence in OLPR municipal elections
Abstract
Author Details
Veikko Isotalo is a PhD Candidate at the University of Helsinki.
Citation
Isotalo, V., & Anlar, B. Understanding dynamics of intra-party incongruence in OLPR municipal elections. Research Note presented at the IntraComp Workshop 2022.
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