Ethnic minorities and democratic support

• Department of Political and Social Sciences

In the context of the Comparative Politics Seminar Series, this session features a presentation by Jan Rovny (Sciences Po).

Ethnicity and democracy are generally expected to be at odds with each other. However, studies rarely engage with the democratic preferences and minorities and fail to consider democracy as a multifaceted concept, combining majoritarian decision-making with counter-majoritarian rights protection.

This project argues that ethnic minorities view democracy in light of their position within the polity. Their democratic preferences are not unidimensional, but rather depend on the specific aspect of democracy. The project investigates four core tenets of democracy: electoral democracy, liberal democracy, social rights, and people rule; as well as three oppositions to democracy: populism, illiberalism, and authoritarianism. The project demonstrates that minorities differ in their focus on distinct aspects of democracy. Minorities with a more precarious association to the majority-dominated state – eastern European historical minorities and western European Muslims – are particularly concerned about liberal democracy and social rights, while being more hesitant about electoral and popular democracy. Minorities more rooted within the existing state – western European historical minorities – show lower concern for democracy in general.