Choose from the 3 available topics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Choose from the 3 available topics - Essay Example Despite the changes adopted in the representation structure, the policies used for women differ from that used in men. Men are given the chance to fight out with fellow men for the different representation position while women benefit from quota systems in which parties reserve special positions for them. The application of the principle of reservation and quota system has enabled women to represent the specific interest of their gender in the house. In Mala Htun article ‘is gender like ethnicity’, the idea behind the formation of group specific parties is evaluated. The author also looks at the dynamics involved in reserving seats using the quota system for women and the reservation of legislative seats for the minority groups (Htun 434). Different countries have different policies on representation and the use of reservation and quotas for special groups like women and ethnic minority. This system applies to all democratic situations whether completely religious like M uslim or catholic state, developed and developing countries among other identities. Most countries have legal requirements for this representation and this highlights the approach adopted by such countries when reserving different seats for its people. Countries that lack legal basis for reservation and quotas have different political arrangement, which allows for fair representation in parties and representative posts. The United States lacks a legal framework for representation of the minority or the women but uses a race conscious districting system that gives room for fair representation of all the races (Htun 434). In mature electoral democracies, states reserve special quotas within the political parties for women and legislative seats for the ethnic minority. The use of quotas and cleavages has been approached with a traditional perspective that fails to look at the implications and benefits of these representations. The author argues that the use of candidate quotas can only be significant within groups that have cross cutting interest while legislative reservation should be allocated to groups that have coinciding interests. Under the principle of use of quota for political party reservation, the law requires a specific number of slots to be left for women candidates during nomination. This is common in most democracies in which the law may require that a third of positions in all areas be reserved to women and that the ranking within these positions should alternate with men. The principle of quota system has significantly affected parties decisions and individuals picked to represent parties in certain districts (Dahlerup 214). The use of representation however affects the entire demography of an electoral system as it result into the creation of new electoral incentives and rules. These results into the creation of more than one set of electoral roll with special districts reserved for the minority groups. Under these principles, a party seeks to h ave a certain group of people who are subjected to a different set of conditions to be elected to the legislature (Htun 434). Strengths and weaknesses of the author’s arguments In this paper, the author attempts to highlight the differences between the types of presentations that border on the quota system and the representation within the legislature. Through this article, the author has critically highlighted the