There are 435 members of the House of Representatives in any congressional sitting. In the 118th Congress which began in January 2023, there were 58 Black members, 16 Asian American members, 54 Hispanic members.

Although the benefits of increasing descriptive diversity in Congress are well-explored, less attention has been paid to the positive impacts of increasing descriptive diversity in elections. Employing a comprehensive collection of campaign platform text from nearly 5,000 campaign websites, we find that Democratic male and white candidates are significantly more likely to take up women's and Black-associated issues when a candidate who possesses that identity runs in their same-party primary election. Extending our analysis to military veterans, we find that Republicans are more likely to discuss veterans' issues when there is a military veteran in their primary; conversely, Democrats are not any more likely to discuss these issues when they run against a veteran. Looking to candidate position taking in the general election, our findings suggest that simply the presence of candidates from underrepresented populations in congressional races is important to broadening substantive representation in the legislative arena.

The most recent polling data from February 2025 puts the approval rating of the United States Congress at 29 percent, reflecting a significant increase from January. The approval rating remained low throughout the 118th Congress cycle, which began in January 2025. Congressional approval Congressional approval, particularly over the past few years, has not been high. Americans tend to see Congress as a group of ineffectual politicians who are out of touch with their constituents. The 118th Congress began in 2023 with a rocky start. The Democratic Party maintains control of the Senate, but Republicans took back control of the House of Representatives after the 2022 midterm elections. The House caught media attention from its first days with a contentious fight for the position of Speaker of the House. Representative Kevin McCarthy was eventually sworn in as Speaker after a historic fifteen rounds of voting. Despite the current Congress having a historic share of women and being the most diverse Congress in American history, very little has been done to improve the opinion of Americans regarding its central lawmaking body. Ye of little faith However, Americans tend not to have much confidence in many of the institutions in the United States. Additionally, public confidence in the ability of the Republican and Democratic parties to work together has decreased drastically between 2008 and 2022, with nearly 60 percent of Americans having no confidence the parties can govern in a bipartisan way.

This dataset was collected as an attempt to study trends of latino representation in the U.S. Senate by including participants from a renown fellowship and internship program hosted by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI). More specifically, the data was created by collecting the statistic results from "DIVERSITY AMONG U.S. SENATE DEMOCRATIC STAFF" survey series 2017-2020. Followed by creating a binary variable if a CHCI participant was placed in the recorded offices or committees. Not all CHCI participants are accounted for in this dataset due to no diversity data avaliable for the U.S. House of Representatives. CHCI Intern Participants from Summer-Fall 2020 are not included due to placement information unavailable. Term codes are used for internship programs due to the programs veing organized by Fall(F) Spring (SP) and Summer (S). Percent_White is calculated as X =1 - Percent_Non-White. Any mistakes are my own, CHCI had no formal involvement in the data collection process.

The first sitting of the ***** Congress was from January 3, 2023, to January 3, 2025. Of the members of the House who sat during this session, *** members had previous employment in public service or politics. A further *** worked in business or banking before joining the House of Representatives.

This dataset tracks annual diversity score from 2016 to 2023 for Congressman Silvestre & Carolina School vs. Texas and Canutillo Independent School District

This dataset tracks annual diversity score from 1991 to 2023 for Congressman Jerry Lewis Elementary School vs. California and Silver Valley Unified School District

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission (Commissioner) was established pursuant to the procedures set forth by Proposition 11, the Voters First Act, and Proposition 20, the Voters First Act for Congress, the provisions of which are now found in Section 2 of Article XXI of the California Constitution and at Government Code Section 8252. These constitutional and statutory provisions set forth the Commission’s responsibilities with respect to drawing the boundary lines for the California Assembly, Senate, Board of Equalization and Congressional districts (the Maps).Resolution of August 15, 2011 certifying the statewide California Congressional districts were approved by the Commission in the manner required by Section 2 of Article XXI of the California Constitution; a copy of the statewide Congressional map; copies of the 53 individual Congressional districts; and a “disc” labeled crc_20110815_congress_certified_statewide.zip SHA-1: 1893c0695a42454a202f5b1ef433abff6b491db9 containing the unique data files for the Congressional districts from which the statewide and individual district maps are created.Commission Background:In accordance with the Voters FIRST Act (Act), the California State Auditor randomly selected the first eight members of the first Citizens Redistricting Commission (Commission) on November 18, 2010. These first eight commissioners—three who are Democrats, three who are Republican, and two who are either Decline-to-State or are registered with another party—were part of the 36 eligible applicants that remained in the sub-pools after the legislative leaders, exercised their authority to make strikes and eliminated the names of 24 applicants from the pool of 60 of the most qualified applicants identified on September 23, 2010 by the Auditor’s Applicant Review Panel (Panel). The Panel reviewed and evaluated the applicants based on criteria set forth by the Act approved by voters in November 2008; including relevant analytical skills, the ability to be impartial; and a demonstrated appreciation for California’s diverse demographics and geography.

© California Citizens Redistricting Commission

More than 39 million people and 14.2 million households span more than 163,000 square miles of Californian’s urban, suburban and rural communities. California has the fifth largest economy in the world and is the most populous state in the nation, with nation-leading diversity in race, ethnicity, language and socioeconomic conditions. These characteristics make California amazingly unique amongst all 50 states, but also present significant challenges to counting every person and every household, no matter the census year. A complete and accurate count of a state’s population in a decennial census is essential. The results of the 2020 Census will inform decisions about allocating hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding to communities across the country for hospitals, fire departments, school lunch programs and other critical programs and services. The data collected by the United States Census Bureau (referred hereafter as U.S. Census Bureau) also determines the number of seats each state has in the U.S. House of Representatives and will be used to redraw State Assembly and Senate boundaries. California launched a comprehensive Complete Count Census 2020 Campaign (referred to hereafter as the Campaign) to support an accurate and complete count of Californians in the 2020 Census. Due to the state’s unique diversity and with insights from past censuses, the Campaign placed special emphasis on the hardest-tocount Californians and those least likely to participate in the census. The California Complete Count – Census 2020 Office (referred to hereafter as the Census Office) coordinated the State’s operations to complement work done nationally by the U.S. Census Bureau to reach those households most likely to be missed because of barriers, operational or motivational, preventing people from filling out the census. The Campaign, which began in 2017, included key phases, titled Educate, Motivate and Activate. Each of these phases were designed to make sure all Californians knew about the census, how to respond, their information was safe and their participation would help their communities for the next 10 years.

The 119th Congress began in January 2025. In this Congress, there were 26 women serving as Senators, and 74 men. The number of women has increased since the 1975 when there were no women in the Senate. The first female Senator was Rebecca Felton of Georgia who was sworn in 1922. A breakdown of women Senators by party can be found here.

Historical Dataset of Congressman Silvestre & Carolina School is provided by PublicSchoolReview and contain statistics on metrics:Total Students Trends Over Years (2016-2023),Total Classroom Teachers Trends Over Years (2016-2023),Distribution of Students By Grade Trends,Student-Teacher Ratio Comparison Over Years (2016-2023),Asian Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (2016-2023),Hispanic Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (2016-2023),Black Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (2016-2023),White Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (2016-2023),Two or More Races Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (2016-2023),Diversity Score Comparison Over Years (2016-2023),Free Lunch Eligibility Comparison Over Years (2016-2023),Reduced-Price Lunch Eligibility Comparison Over Years (2016-2023),Reading and Language Arts Proficiency Comparison Over Years (2016-2022),Math Proficiency Comparison Over Years (2016-2022),Science Proficiency Comparison Over Years (2021-2022),Overall School Rank Trends Over Years (2016-2022)

Abstract: The Devonian Escarpment (DEEPA), located in the south of Brazil, represents an important area of environmental preservation composed by grasslands, gallery forests, as well as rock outcrops and archaeological sites. A law project (LP 527/2016), which suggests a reduction of the DEEPA area in approximately 70% of its original area (from 393,579 to 125,895 ha), is currently being processed in the Paraná State House of Representatives. Such reduction seems to be related to economic interests (mainly agriculture and mining) in the state of Paraná. If approved, LP 527/2016 will allow farmers to deliberately expand their activities, with the suppression of natural forest as main consequence. Additionally, loss of faunal diversity, contamination of water and soils, and alteration in nutrient cycles are expected, due the intensive use of agrochemicals. In addition to the direct environmental consequences, we expect the disappearance of areas of high geological interest, reducing local geodiversity, as well as substantial economic losses with ecotourism. Brazil is a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, where it undertakes to develop strategies to prevent biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation by 2020. An approval of the LP would be contradictory, considering that there are few natural vegetation areas in this region of the country. We emphasize that the proposal of such projects goes against the sustainability in the country and disregard the scientific knowledge generated until then. Thus, it is necessary to develop regional and federal political objectives that guarantee economic development in a balanced way, considering the local bio and geodiversity, not the proposal of mechanisms that destroy them.

The District of Columbia is the only non-state entity of the United States with a share of electoral votes in U.S. presidential elections. Since the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution granted Washington D.C. representation in these elections, the nation's capital has had three electoral votes in each election since 1964. In these 16 elections, Washington D.C.'s citizens have chosen the overall winner seven times, giving a success rate of 44 percent, which is the lowest in the country. As of 2024, no U.S. president has ever been born in Washington D.C., although former Vice President and Democratic nominee in the 2000 election, Al Gore, is the only major party candidate to have been born there, during his father's term in the House of Representatives. Always Democratic The District of Columbia has voted for the Democratic Party's nominee in every presidential election that has been contested in the capital. Not only do Democratic nominees perform well in D.C., they win these electoral votes by significant margins; Democrats have won over ninety percent of D.C.'s popular vote in the past four elections, and the worst performance ever by a Democrat was in 1980, where Jimmy Carter only won 75 percent of the popular vote. Factors such as heavy urbanization and ethnic diversity are generally cited as the reasons for D.C.'s strong Democrat voter base. Fifty-first state? The only time when a Democratic nominee did not receive all three electoral votes was in 2000, when one elector abstained from casting her ballot, as a protest of D.C.'s lack of voting representation in Congress. While the District of Columbia can take part in presidential elections, it is a federal district under Congress' jurisdiction, and does not have voting representation in either chamber of Congress. The statehood movement aims to make Washington D.C. the newest state to join the union, possibly under the name "New Columbia" or "Washington, Douglass Commonwealth" (named after the abolitionist, Frederick Douglass), and bring an end to what it sees as "taxation without representation". Generally speaking, lawmakers are split along party lines on whether D.C. should receive statehood or not; with Democrats in favor of the proposition, while Republicans are opposed to the idea (as it would likely bolster the Democrat's numbers in Congress). A survey conducted in June 2020, showed that roughly 40 percent of registered voters support the idea of D.C. statehood, while 41 percent oppose the idea, and the remainder are undecided; the topic gained renewed attention in 2020 when President Trump used the capital's National Guard to disperse peaceful protesters from near the White House during the George Floyd protests.

Historical Dataset of Congressman Jerry Lewis Elementary School is provided by PublicSchoolReview and contain statistics on metrics:Total Students Trends Over Years (1987-2023),Total Classroom Teachers Trends Over Years (1990-2023),Distribution of Students By Grade Trends,Student-Teacher Ratio Comparison Over Years (1990-2023),American Indian Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (1992-2020),Asian Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (1991-2023),Hispanic Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (1991-2023),Black Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (1991-2023),White Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (1991-2023),Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (2009-2015),Two or More Races Student Percentage Comparison Over Years (2009-2023),Diversity Score Comparison Over Years (1991-2023),Free Lunch Eligibility Comparison Over Years (1992-2023),Reduced-Price Lunch Eligibility Comparison Over Years (2002-2023)

This data collection contains the tabular data, R scripts and methods used to generate three indicators specific to vascular plants for the NSW Biodiversity Indicator Program's first assessment (prior to the date of commencement of the Biodiversity Conservation Act 2016): 1.2a expected survival of all known species; 2.1a within-species genetic diversity (for all known species); 2.1b extant area occupied (for all known species). These indicators use representative species sets (provided in a related data collection). The habitat condition indicators (related data collections) are used to infer reduction in geographic range size. These indicators are an application of the ‘expected diversity’ framework. Reduction in the geographic range size of a species due to habitat loss, alteration and fragmentation is well known to decrease within-species genetic diversity and increase extinction risk. Therefore, current range size and proportion of range lost from habitat loss, alteration and fragmentation were estimated for vascular plant species known to occur naturally in New South Wales. The area of effective habitat (i.e. high quality habitat able to support biodiversity) remaining for each species was estimated from two alternative habitat condition indicators (Love et al. 2020): ecological condition of terrestrial habitat and ecological carrying capacity of terrestrial habitat. Because most species in New South Wales have not been formally assessed for possible threatened status (i.e. at heightened risk of extinction), a provisional risk assessment using a limited set of criteria was completed for all NSW vascular plant species for which adequate data were available from the Atlas of Living Australia. For consistency with IUCN recommended Red List methods, the expected survival of all known species uses area of occupancy within 2km grids to classify all species into four categories: lowest risk, lower risk, higher risk and highest risk. Each category was assigned a probability of survival, allowing the proportion of NSW vascular plant species expected to survive in 100 years to be estimated. Extrapolating trends in the rate of biodiversity loss requires that the list of species used in analyses are representative of the overall biodiversity of New South Wales. A subset of NSW vascular plant species that uniformly represent the full variety of natural habitats for vascular plants in New South Wales (called the representative species set) was selected to represent all vascular plant species, including those yet to be discovered. Ecological environments defined by a generalised dissimilarity model of vascular plants were used as a surrogate for the variety of natural habitats. Based on the proportion of remaining effective habitat in each species’ original range, within-species genetic diversity is also estimated. A range of values is given because each species will respond to loss of range size differently, depending on factors like dispersal ability and degree of adaptation to local environmental conditions, and these differences are not precisely known. The data and scripts provided in the data collection will allow the pre-commencement analyses of these indicators to be re-run. The method as applied in the scripts is designed to allow future iterations of the indicators to be run using updated input data. Guidelines on how to re-run the analyses using the scripts and adapt the data package for future iterations of the indicators is provided in the implementation report (Nipperess DA, Faith DP, Williams KJ, King D, Manion G, Ware C, Schmidt R, Love J, Drielsma M, Allen S & Gallagher R 2020. Expected survival and state of all known species, first assessment. Department of Planning, Industry and Environment NSW, Sydney, Australia.). The relevant guidelines extracted from that report are provided with this data package. Lineage: This Indicator uses a representative sample of vascular plant species (data and method of derivation described in a separate data collection - see ‘related links’ Representative species sets for vascular plants generated for the Biodiversity Indicator Program, first assessment: expected survival and state of all known species - supplementary data package) to derive three indicators: 1.2a expected survival; 2.1a within-species genetic diversity; 2.1b extant area occupied. Expected survival estimates extinction risk of all biodiversity (both known and undiscovered species) beyond those formally assessed by the NSW Scientific Threatened Species Committee. Species from a biological (i.e. taxonomic) group, in this case vascular plants, are sampled to uniformly represent the full range of natural habitats for that group. The representative species are provisionally assigned to risk of extinction categories based on the estimated proportion of their original habitat that remains intact. This is a limited, provisional assessment of risk using commonly available species occupancy data. The method uses species occurrence observations since 1950 in 2km map grids (each being 4km2) and area of occupancy (AOO) thresholds specified by the two criteria to discriminate four risk of extinction categories. Each species is further assessed for a reduction in AOO determined from the ecological condition indicator as a measure of habitat condition and, for comparison, the ecological carrying capacity measure. The reduction in AOO in four classes (<30%, 30-50%, 50-80% and > 80%), and the AOO thresholds (also using ecological condition) provide the dimensions of the risk categorisation. Each category is given a probability of survival which is applied to all representative species in that category. The Indicator is calculated by summing the probabilities of survival for the representative species across all categories and is expressed as a proportion of the total number of species representing the biological group. This serves as an indicator for all known species within the biological group expected to survive in 100 years and, by logic, extends to undiscovered species in that group. Change in the value of the Indicator reflects a change in survival probability due to a change in habitat condition. If sufficient habitat is lost or degraded for a particular species, its extinction risk category will also change. The AOO data are used to estimate the proportion of within-species genetic diversity that still exists and extant area occupied, after considering loss of suitable habitats. Genetic diversity is inferred from species diversity using geographic range and occupancy. A power curve relates the intact fraction of a species’ AOO to the respective fraction of genetic diversity remaining. Two forms of the curve are used: one that simulates spatially high genetic diversity due to high rates of population divergence and the other low. The two curves equate to an upper and lower estimate of fractional within-species genetic diversity. The Indicator is calculated by separately summing the upper and lower fractions of genetic diversity remaining for all species representing the biological group. This serves as an indicator of within-species genetic diversity for all known species within the biological group and, by logic, extends to undiscovered species in that group. It is also used to show the variation in genetic diversity loss across the categories of species survival for indicator 1.2a. The extant area occupied by all known species is the average fraction of original habitat occupied by the representative species. It is also used to show variation in reductions in AOOs across the categories of species survival for indicator 1.2a. Change in the value of the Indicators reflects a change in habitat condition. Details are given in the explanatory notes attached with this package.

The research project, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation, investigates the consequences of online media presence for political preferences and behaviour. The study was conducted by YouGov USA. During the survey period 23 April 2018 to 15 October 2019, American citizens aged 18 and older with internet access were surveyed in online interviews (CAWI) on the following topics: political preferences and political behaviour, use of social media, media use, attitudes towards specific topics, political knowledge, opinions on the regulation of online harassment. Respondents were selected through quota sampling from an online access panel.
1. Political preferences and political behaviour: party identification; ideological self-location; registered as a voter; voting behaviour in the 2016 presidential election; interest in politics; frequency following government and public affairs; party preference; approval of Donald Trump´s work as president; approval of Congress´s work; likelihood of own voting in the midterm elections on 6/11/2018; likability scales for selected countries, politicians and groups of people; social distance from supporters of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party and Trump; individual characteristics: Gun ownership, foreign language skills, travel outside the US, family member served in the military, attended a political rally in the past year; national attachment; exaggerated patriotism (chauvinism); expected winner of House of Representatives election; expected national vote share of Democratic Party; voting intention in November 2018 midterm elections; preferred party to control Congress after midterm elections; preference for Republican vs. of Democrats in own constituency as Congressman; expected election winner in own constituency; certainty of own assessment regarding expected election winner; opinion on impeachment proceedings against President Trump; feeling constrained in political discussions; participation in midterm elections and voting decision regarding Congressman; justification of system (scale); opinion on regulation of economy in the following areas: Drones, self-driving cars, internet companies´ handling of user data, finance, health insurance, oil, gas, social media providers´ handling of user data; preferences regarding regulation of leading tech companies; opinion on higher taxes for incomes over 10 million dollars; opinion on withdrawal of all American troops from Afghanistan within one year; heterogeneity of own newsfeed on Twitter (estimated percentage liberals, moderates, conservatives).

1. Use of social media: account on selected social media sites; frequency of reception of political news or comments on Twitter and Facebook from different sources (friends, relatives, acquaintances, news organisations and journalists, politicians, parties or political campaigns, other followees, companies); proportion of accounts sharing one´s own political views (diversity of political views); frequency of political usage behaviour on Twitter and Facebook (tweeting or (tweeting or posting one´s views on current political issues, sharing news with followers, reading news articles from people one follows, reading news or information from politicians or parties, reading personal opinions of contacts on political issues, liking political information or opinions, political conversations).

2. Media use: frequency of political information from various sources (TV, newspapers or printed magazines, radio, online media, social media, face-to-face conversations); frequency of use of selected news sites and news programmes on TV, daily newspapers and cable news programmes; perceptions of selected news sources; general trust vs. distrust in known news sources about government and politics; trust in media; (press, Facebook); major news outlets treat all sides fairly vs. tend to favour one side when presenting political and social issues; trust in Huffington Post and Fox News; opinion on news organisations´ criticism of political leaders.

3. Attitude towards political issues: most important political issues in the USA; attitude towards various statements on the following domestic and foreign policy issues: Black Lives Matter movement, climate change, corporations, relief for the poor, entry into war, gun control laws, international cooperation, international trade, Islam, isolation, marijuana, military strength, North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), North Korea, regulation of corporations or the the technology industry, sexual harassment (mee too), President Trump´s right to pardon, cooperation with the United Nations, wall on the border with Mexico; opinion on current political issues: thorough investigation by the FBI of possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, dealing with young immigrants (Dreamers), regulation of technology companies, dealing with North Korea; particularly important issues and problems in the USA; political trade-offs on various issues (e....

This collection contains the data, processes and descriptions of workflows required to produce the representative species sets for vascular plants used in the NSW Biodiversity Indicator Program first assessment. The labels given to the datasets in this collection are defined in the workflow diagram and data links spreadsheet. This is a supplementary dataset that was used as an input to the three derived indicators for vascular plants: 1.2a expected survival of all known species 2.1a within-species genetic diversity (for all known species) 2.1b extant area occupied (for all known species). Details are given in the explanatory notes attached with this package and the method implementation report (Nipperess DA, Faith DP, Williams KJ, King D, Manion G, Ware C, Schmidt R, Love J, Drielsma M, Allen S & Ware C 2019, Expected survival and state of all known species: Data packages for the Biodiversity Indicator Program, first assessment.) accessed through the NSW Biodiversity Indicator Program website (see related links). Lineage: Biological data used in this collection are a list of vascular plant species for NSW, generated from all NSW occurrence records (kingdom Plantae) downloaded from the Atlas of Living Australia (https://www.ala.org.au). Taxa were excluded from this list if they were not from a major subclass of vascular plants (Cycadidae, Pinidae, Magnoliidae, or a fern subclass); not a species-level or subspecific taxon; not listed as a valid name in both the Australian Plant Census (https://biodiversity.org.au/nsl/services/APC) and NSW PlantNet (http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/); or not listed as native in either the Australian Plant Census or NSW PlantNet. Data cleaning reduced the original list of 16,501 unique names to 5,528 species. All available occurrence records for this set of 5,528 species of vascular plants were downloaded from the Atlas of Living Australia. Records were then removed if they were not a preserved specimen; if spatial (latitude / longitude) or temporal (year of collection) data were incomplete; if they were a cultivated specimen; if they occurred more than 5 km outside the coastline of Australia; if they were collected prior to 1950; or their coordinate uncertainty (if known) was greater than or equal to 3000 meters. Cleaning reduced the initial dataset of 7,802,849 records for 5,528 species to 1,243,554 records for 5,506 species. These included occurrences anywhere in Australia, of which 4,859 species were represented by at least one occurrence within NSW (including ACT and commonwealth properties). A project-specific unique ID was assigned to each species to enable traceability in subsequent analyses. For other datasets within this repository, the process of how they were derived is described in the method implementation report. An existing GDM for vascular plants was used to represent the diversity of ecological environments occupied by vascular plants in New South Wales. This model is based on vascular plant survey data from across south-eastern continental Australia (‘NARCliM Domain’) and used 25 environmental predictors (19 climate, 6 substrate). Representative sets of species to be selected were developed using the .NET Survey Gap Analysis Tool. Diagnostic measures of environmental representation and range size were used to select an optimal number of demand points (1149) which were equated with the names of the species selected as representative. These species were then used as an input to the three derived indicators for vascular plants: 1.2a expected survival of all known species 2.1a within-species genetic diversity (for all known species) 2.1b extant area occupied (for all known species). Details are given in the explanatory notes attached with this package

The present study is an analysis of the congressional debates that led to the implementation of the Conditional Cash Transfer programs in Mexico (1997) and Peru (2005), focusing on the narratives mobilized by legislators and members of the Executive branch in deliberation. Empirically, the analysis is primarily based on transcripts of all relevant congressional debates in the Senate and House of Representatives (in Mexico, both chambers, Peru has a unicameral legislature). To identify the periods of analysis, I used secondary sources, newspaper articles, and executive decrees and traced the process of the program conception, discussion, and implementation. The process of locating newspaper articles consisted of Factiva searches of the original-language editions of newspapers in Mexico and Peru. For the case of Mexico, I searched under “Progresa” from January 1997 to January 1998 and got 68 hits. For the case of Peru, I searched under “Juntos” from January 2005 to January 2006. As expected, since the word Juntos in Spanish means “together,” I got a larger number of hits: 389. The articles come from a diversity of newspapers, but a third of the hits come from the most important general interest newspapers in both countries: El Universal in Mexico and El Comercio in Peru. From this process, I selected hearings in two contentious periods in the initial stage of the program: the debates following the program’s official launch by the Executive to the Congress (September 1997 in Mexico; February-July 2005 in Peru) and the budget approval/modification (November-December 1997 in Mexico; June and November 2005 in Peru). The hearings lasted an average of four hours each. All the debates were conducted in Spanish.

This collection contains transcripts of interviews conducted during 2014-17 with representatives of minority autonomy bodies and minority NGOs, state officials, political party representatives and academic experts in Hungary, Russia, Estonia, Romania and Serbia. In Russia the interviews covered a wide range of different non-Russian ethnicity, but with particular emphasis on Tatar and Finno-Ugric minority communities. In all five country settings, interviews were also conducted with current and former politicians from across the ethno-political spectrum who had been actively involved in debates leading to the adoption (where relevant) of cultural autonomy legislation during the 1990s and beyond.

This research was inspired by ongoing discussion of what is often called the the 'nationality' or 'minority' question in the former communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE): namely, how to integrate ethnically diverse societies according to democratic principles within the framework of existing state borders. The period since the fall of communism and the demise of the multinational USSR, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia has seen sustained efforts by international organisations (most especially the Council of Europe, OSCE and EU) to enact a credible national minority rights regime capable of preventing the emergence or resurgence of ethnic conflicts within this region. Minority rights are of course not simply an issue in relation to CEE: discussion of this region can be situated within the context of broader debates on integration of minority communities and the possibility of reconfiguring existing nation states along lines of democratic multiculturalism. One particular feature of recent minority rights development in CEE has been the adoption by several states of laws based on the principle of non-territorial cultural autonomy (NTCA). First elaborated in Austro-Hungary at the turn of the 20th century, NTCA is based on the premise that in an areas of ethnically mixed settlement, rights to minority autonomy cannot be allocated to particular territorial regions; rather, these rights must be allocated to public collectivities of persons, constituted on the basis of individual citizens freely associating to create their own institutions with responsibility for minority schooling and other cultural affairs. This model has attracted growing interest from contemporary scholars and practitioners of minority rights, who see it as possible way of conceptually separating ethnicity from territory and thereby alleviating fears that greater minority rights might undermine the stability and integrity of existing states. For all of this interest, however, there is still a lack of detailed comparative research on NTCA that seeks to determine the factors and agendas behind the revival of NTCA laws, the actual roles performed by NTCA institutions that have been established and the implications that NTCA carries for identity and the construction of statehood and political community within the post-communist CEE region. The broad aim of the research was to address this gap in the literature by conducting a thorough comparative analysis of debates and practices around NTCA in five states where the model has had particular salience in recent times: Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Russia and Serbia. The project also sought to set the findings from these CEE cases within a broader context through expert seminars involving academic theoreticians of NTCA as well as scholars and policymakers working in and on other states where NTCA is either used or mooted as a model for managing ethnic diversity. The findings are interesting and relevant not only academically, but also for organisations engaged in the development of a European minority rights regime. From a range of settings spanning the entire CEE region, including EU member, prospective member and partner states, the research gives a fuller and more nuanced understanding of whether NTCA is helping to integrate communities or whether it in fact reifies ethnic divisions.

As of December 2024, women constituted 63.8 percent of the Rwandan parliament (lower or single house). This makes it the country with the highest share of women in parliament worldwide. Cuba had the second-highest share of female MPs with 55.7 percent, followed by Nicaragua. The European country with the highest percentage of women in their parliament was Andorra with 50 percent.