REPCHANCE – Spain and the United Kingdom

“REPCHANCE – Spain and the United Kingdom” aims at providing a better and deeper understanding of the processes that place barriers to the inclusion of migrants and their descendants in social and political positions of leadership, as well as which initiatives may contribute to overcoming such barriers, hence fostering more inclusive societies.

Led by Professor Laura Morales, the project is funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation for a period of 2.5 years (July 2022 - February 2025).

OBJECTIVES AND METHODS

Through mixed methods – quantitative biographical data from elected officials combined with qualitative interviews with politicians and civil society leaders – the project focuses on the role played by social and cultural characteristics of the various immigrant-origin minorities, along with the degree of inclusivity of the political systems vis à vis immigrant-background minorities in European countries. The persistence of structural racism and discriminatory practices, and of biased self-selection into leadership careers are carefully examined.

These issues are studied for the cases of Spain and the United Kingdom, with some comparative evidence for France and Italy from a previous project led by Laura Morales (InclusiveParl).

The results will allow for specific and actionable recommendations for future intervention programmes aimed at facilitating the inclusion of minorities in key positions of political and social representation, thus fostering greater equality of opportunity in the access to positions of leadership for minorities. 

THE TEAM

• Laura Morales, Full Professor, Sciences Po, CEE (Principal Investigator)
• Claire Vincent-Mory, Post-doctoral researcher, Sciences Po, CEE (until 2024)
• Carles Pamies, Research Assistant, Sciences Po, CEE (until 2024)

PARTNERS

This project is part of a transnational collaboration including researchers in Germany (Professor Andreas Wüst, University of Applied Sciences Munich), the Netherlands (Professor Liza Mügge, University of Amsterdam) and Switzerland (Professor Gianni D'Amato, University of Neuchâtel).

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Other pages about the project

REPCHANCE on the Robert Bosch Foundation website

Información sobre REPCHANCE en español

Media

La diversidad en las listas: pocos candidatos de origen extranjero e incomodos, El País, 9 May 2023 (mentionning the scholarly article La representación política de las personas de origen inmigrante en España e Italia, by Daniela Vintila & Laura Morales, Papers, 2018. doi.org/10.5565/rev/papers.2505)

¿Por qué las minorías étnicas gobiernan en Gran Bretaña... mientras en España su representación política aún es residual?, 20 minutos, 3 April 2023 (Laura Morales interviewed)

¿A quién votan los hispanoamericanos?, El País, 26 March 2023 (Laura Morales and Carles Pamies interviewed)