Abstract
A great deal of name discrimination literature shows that those of Arab origin face high levels (more than almost any other minority) of name discrimination in the housing and employment markets in various Western countries. In this article, we want to extend the discussion of Arab name discrimination from the social and economic arena to the electoral arena. We ask the following question: Do candidates with Arab and Turkish sounding names face electoral disadvantages? We answer this question using a random sample of 100 German (a country with a significant Arab/Turkish population) municipal elections comprising more than 6400 candidates. We find that councilors with Arab/Turkish sounding names make up less than 0.2 percent of all councilors. We further discover that this underrepresentation stems largely, but not solely, from a lack of supply of Arab/Turkish candidates. There is also some electoral discrimination in that candidates with Arab/Turkish sounding name are relegated to lower list positions. However, there is nuance as to the ‘why’, as voters seem not to further discriminate against Arab/Turkish sounding names during elections.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Arab names, Turkish names, Candidates, Name discrimination, Municipal elections, Germany
