Shared Political Experiences: Ethnic Minority Citizens’ Evaluations of Descriptive Representation in Germany and the Netherlands

Political theorists argue that ethnically/racially minoritized politicians advance their groups’ political interests and inclusion. But do ethnically/racially minoritized citizens prefer representatives ‘like them’? Drawing on intersectionality and Hannah Arendt’s theory of political judgement, I study who ethnically/racially minoritized citizens identify with in politics and how descriptive politicians matter to their experiences of representation. The empirical material consists of 19 focus groups (N=98) with Dutch and German citizens with various immigration histories. I find that participants qualify politicians as more or less ‘descriptive’ depending on perceived shared political experiences. Most participants prefer descriptive politicians in theory. However, in practice, support is conditional on politicians’ political views and their perceived ‘assimilation’ within established political parties. Party systems, legacies of descriptive representation, perceived group polarization, and perceived group privilege/disadvantage influence citizens’ preferences. Together, the findings suggest that increasing numbers is necessary but not sufficient to improve minority representation.