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=== The portion of this article discussing gender is remarkably short and doesn't do enough to bring identity politics into other discussions. My edits would include discussions of substantive and descriptive representation in politics. This would broaden the article and bring it into contemporary political discourse. ===

Hispanic/Latino identity politics[edit]
See also: Hispanic and Latino Americans in politics

According to Leonie Huddy, Lilliana Mason, and S. Nechama Horwitz, the majority of Latinos in the United States identity with the Democratic Party. Latinos' Democratic proclivities can be explained by: ideological policy preferences and an expressive identity based on the defense of Latino identity and status, with a strong support for the latter explanation hinged on an analysis of the 2012 Latino Immigrant National Election Study and American National Election Study focused on Latino immigrants and citizens respectively. When perceiving pervasive discrimination against Latinos and animosity from the Republican party, a strong partisanship preference further intensified, and in return, increased Latino political campaign engagement.

'''The policy decisions regarding national immigration policy throughout U.S. history have functioned to exert control over the flow of immigrants, which has been recognized as an important factor to the nation building of the U.S. For example, as a result of the Bracero Program, in 1957, legal entries from Mexico totalled 485,000 persons, 436,000 of which arrived on temporary work visas. Figure 1 demonstrates that the total population of undocumented residents has increased significantly over the past few decades.[Insert example of immigration statistics from another latin american country The social and cultural consequences of this continuing flow of immigration from Latin America led to concerted efforts to increase the political visibility of Hispanic/Latino population. [Invention of the term "Hispanic" and Latin America]'''

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Gender
Gender identity politics is an approach that views politics, both in practice and as an academic discipline, as having a gendered nature and that gender is an identity that influences how people think. Politics has become increasingly gender political as formal structures and informal 'rules of the game' have become gendered. How institutions affect men and women differently are starting to be analysed in more depth as gender will affect institutional innovation.

A key element of studying electoral behavior in all democracies is political partisanship. In 1996, Eric Plutzer and John F. Zipp examined the election of 1992 election, also commonly referred to as "Year of the Woman", where a then-record- breaking 14 women ran for governor or U.S. senator, 4 of whom were successfully elected into office. In analyzing the possibility that male and female voters react differently to the opportunity to cast a vote for a woman, the study provided gave credence to the idea that women tend to vote for women and men tend to vote against them. For example, among Republican voters in California, Barbara Boxer ran 10 points behind Bill Clinton among men and about even among women, while Dianne Feinstein ran about 6 points among men but 11 points ahead among women. This gender effect was further amplified for Democratic female candidates who were rated as feminist. These results demonstrate that gender identity has and can function as a cue for voting behavior.

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Representation in Modern Democracies
One of the major challenges in providing quality representation within all modern democracies comes from the many different ways in conceptualizing representation. Hanna Fenichel Pitkin, in her seminal study The Concept of Representation, identifies four forms: descriptive, substantive, formalistic, and symbolic representation.

Formalistic Representation
Formalistic representation focuses on the formal procedures of institutions and has two dimensions: authorization and accountability. Authorization looks at the means by which a representative obtains their position in office. Accountability centers around the ability of constituents to punish representatives for failing to act according to their wishes or the responsiveness of the representative to the constituents.

Symbolic Representation
Symbolic Representation involves constituents's perception of their representatives, including the represented's feelings of being fairly and effectively represented. Work on symbolic representation by scholars of race and ethnic politics indicate that marginalized group’s presence cues the legitimacy of both outcomes and procedure. Another study found that African- Americans's had more trust in the legitimacy of the federal courts as the proportion of African-American judges rose Another study evaluated that when the level of black representation was below proportional levels, perceptions of fairness and satisfaction decreased ( e.g. symbolic representation).

Descriptive Representation
Descriptive representation refers to whether officeholders resemble those being represented. It is concerned only with who a representative is, such as their race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, etc. See also: Political Representation

Substantive Representation
Substantive representation is defined as having one's policy views expressed by an elected representative, independent of whether the representatives resemble their constituents and their social and demographic identities. There have been studies that examined the substantive benefits of minority groups's representation. In a series of experiments by Amanda Clayton, Diana Z. O'Brien, and Jennifer M. Piscopo, these researchers controlled both the makeup of the decision-making body and the outcome reached. Across all decision outcomes and issue topics, women's equal presence legitimized the decision-making process for respondents. Moreover, gender balance helped improve perceptions of substantive legitimacy when the decision-making body reached an anti-feminist decision. This effect was more pronounced among men, who tend to hold less certain views on women's rights. See also: Political Representation

References