Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Scholars of race and representation recognize that studies of representation must also assess the impact of representation on constituents' behavior and attitudes. Such a focus sheds light on the extent to which minority Americans view the American political
system as legitimate and the extent to which they view their own role in the political system as meaningful. Literature on ``minority political empowerment'' initially held an exclusive focus on black empowerment at the local level. Recent studies have expanded this focus to other levels of political representation and
now also to Latinos in the United States. Yet, these studies will largely focus on only one group vis-a-vis one type of representative. This paper expands on earlier studies of minority empowerment and representation by comparing white, black, and Latino
attitudes and behavior toward different types of racial
representation in Congress by utilizing data from the same source. The data used in this paper comes from the ANES between 1992 and 2000. The general findings show that Latinos are positively responsive to Latino representation in Congress and both black and white Americans are not positively or negatively responsive to either black or Latino representation in Congress.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Studies on the US have shown that minority-majority districts increase the turnout of minority voters and the electoral success of minority candidates. However, few studies have explored how various forms of ethnic geography affect minority electoral politics. We address this issue by examining the effects of Russia’s multiple layers of ethnic geography on minority electoral behavior. Russia’s ethnic federalism makes it a particularly interesting case since this type of federal structure arguably has direct and indirect effects of its own. Historically, ethnic federalism has advanced minority elites in leadership positions and promoted minorities’ geographic concentration and resistance to assimilation. We use census and electoral data disaggregated to the raion-level (roughly equal to a US county) to analyze the voting behavior of specific ethnic groups. We also use a multilevel framework, which allows us to capture the extent of the variation in our dependent variables--voter turnout and minority vote share--that is explained by the various levels of analysis, including raions, electoral districts, and federal regions. Our initial findings suggest that each level of ethnic concentration has a mobilizing effect on minorities.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper examines whether increased minority representation in state legislatures in the last 30 years has changed policy outcomes. It shows that the presence of minority representatives had notable effects on policies.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper examines representative bureaucracy in American state governments. The association between state demographics and the number of minorities working in leadership positions, in both the private and the public sector, is also explored. In this paper, active representative is measured by minority leadership, or the number of minorities that hold managerial positions. The authors find that minority representation in state government lags behind representation in the private sector. Furthermore, there is even less parity between minorities in leadership positions versus nonminorities.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Much of the research on racial attitudes examines the level of white racism towards blacks. Political scientists continue to debate over whether the level of support on policies that benefit blacks reflect a subtle, covert form of racism or whether ideology serves as the primary factor in explaining support towards these policies. While these two respective schools of thought have strong foundations to stand on, a large number of them are limited in their generalizability for at lest two reasons. First, when researching racism, most studies only analyze white racism towards blacks and not towards other non-white groups. The number of Hispanics living in the United States has surpassed blacks according to the latest US Census. Some large metropolitan areas such as Houston, TX also have relatively large Asian populations, yet little attention has been paid towards these two ethnic groups in comparison to Blacks. Second, many of these studies, particularly experimental studies only analyze white respondents within homogenously white locales. As a result, whites in previous studies are likely to have had little direct contact with non-whites. Using original experimental data with an ethnically diverse population of students enrolled in Introduction to American Government classes at the University of Houston in Spring 2006, I look at the level of support among whites towards policies that may benefit Hispanics, Asians, as well as Blacks in more ethnically diverse settings.