Opinion – Michael França: Reserves of seats in parliament for disadvantaged groups?

The debate around the political representation of disadvantaged groups is gaining strength in several countries around the world. In this context, the creation of reserve seats in parliament represents one of the possibilities to accelerate the process of inclusion of minorities.

However, a question arises: does political representation really matter? Despite the relevance of this question, a considerable portion of the population, even the most educated, may have difficulties in developing a clear and objective line of argument when faced with such a question.

Because of this, my intention here will be to present some results, based on the scientific literature, that help to reinforce the importance of political inclusion. So, dear readers, feel free to send comments saying if, in the end, the arguments presented in the column were convincing or not.

At the outset, it should be noted that the inclusion of minorities in spaces of power has the potential to affect the distribution of public goods and the way of doing politics. Empirically, it is known that the priorities of each social group tend to be different for a series of decisions that affect society.

Women, men, blacks, whites, poor, rich and their intersections may have specific preferences in relation to public choices. In the context of Covid-19, for example, researchers Raphael Bruce, Alexsandros Cavgias, Luis Meloni and Mário Remígio found that there was a significant difference in the handling of the pandemic in city halls led by women.

Their performance was superior to that of men when taking into account the reduction in the number of deaths, hospitalizations and increased oversight of non-pharmaceutical interventions (Under pressure: Women’s leadership during the COVID-19 crisis, 2022).

The allocation of public goods can also be affected according to the population profile of each location. In the United States, in a study published in the prestigious The Quartely Journal of Economics, researchers Alberto Alesina, Reza Baqir, and Welliam Easterly found that American cities that were more ethnically diverse had less provision of education, roads, sewers, and garbage collection ( Public Goods and Ethnic Divisions, 1999)

In part, this occurs because the goodwill of individuals towards others presents difficulties in overcoming the barriers that separate the most varied social groups. This hypothesis was tested in an interesting experiment carried out by researchers Yan Chen and Sherry Li.

The study presented evidence that participants tended to reward good behavior more and punish bad behavior of group members less (Group Identity and Social Preferences, 2009). This result reinforces the proposition that identity affects social preferences and, thus, influences behavior and the allocation of public goods.

In the Brazilian political context, from left to right, it is known that parliament is not a representation of society, but a space where elite sectors assert their preferences and, not infrequently, act to expand their advantages.

The attentive reader must have noticed that in one of the articles cited in the text, the researchers paid a beautiful tribute to the band Queen by choosing the name of one of their songs (Under pressure) in the composition of the article’s title. So as not to lose the habit, I thought I’d end this column honoring her as well. However, despite liking the song and after reflecting on the lyrics, I think it doesn’t quite match the message I would like to convey. So, this time the tribute goes to the song “No agreement”, by Afrobeat’s father, Fela Kuti.