Who gets unequal parliamentary representation? A comparison of India and Sri Lanka
Publication Type
Journal Article
Publication Date
9-2012
Abstract
In 2010, India celebrated its 60th anniversary as a democracy and Sri Lanka held its first post-civil war election. Yet, inequalities in parliamentary representation remain strong in both nations. This research note highlights current geographic, ideological, and demographic parliamentary inequalities in India and Sri Lanka. It finds major social groups especially women, those under age 40, the less educated, Indian Muslims, and those employed in the agricultural sector to be significantly under-represented. On the other hand, it finds provisional support for the hypothesis that Sri Lanka's proportional representation (PR) electoral system better facilitates equal representation than India's single member district (SMD) system. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
Keywords
India, inequality, parliament, representation, Sri Lanka
Discipline
Asian Studies | Political Science | Politics and Social Change
Research Areas
Political Science
Publication
Contemporary South Asia
Volume
20
Issue
3
First Page
401
Last Page
406
ISSN
0958-4935
Identifier
10.1080/09584935.2011.599832
Citation
JOSHI, Devin K..(2012). Who gets unequal parliamentary representation? A comparison of India and Sri Lanka. Contemporary South Asia, 20(3), 401-406.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1922
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2011.599832