Work Package no. 4 – Analysis of elites’ attitudes

WP 4 analyses party positions on minority policies and enhancing democracy on the basis of Norwegian and Romanian party manifestos, content analysis of parliamentary debates in Romania and a survey of Romanian legislators.

Objectives:

• The identification of political forms of ADID, including the positions of parties from Romania and Norway with regards to the topic;
• The measurement of parliamentarians’ anti-prejudice norms in two different contexts, one expected to exhibit weak anti-prejudice norms, and one context documented to have strong anti-prejudice norms (Norway and Romania, respectively);
• Analysing the ways in which the motivation to control prejudice and to ensure fair treatment of minority groups is related to party affiliation, expected electoral loss or gain from taking the given position, views on representation, as well as the politicians’ positions on the policy and symbolic cleavages that structure party competition;
• Examining the extent to which the self-declared motivation to control prejudice shapes Romanian MPs’ speeches and debate behaviour in parliament.

Findings:

Views of Members of Parliament and candidates to the parliament:

• Results from a survey of Members of Parliament (2012-16 legislature) and candidates in the 2016 parliamentary elections provided interesting insights into the attitudes of Romanian political elites and their determinants. Findings include the fact that in Romania, female politicians are more motivated to control their prejudice against the Roma minority than are men. Candidates whose constituencies include a higher share of Roma people also tend to have a higher motivation to control prejudice. Members of Parliament and candidates who express greater skepticism about the idea that altruism is in human nature also exhibit less motivation to control prejudice.
• Within parliament, there is scant debate, with few open discussions about matters of law or policy on the record, and it is rare that Romanian MPs ask questions or make statements in the parliament regarding the Roma minority. Out of these on-the-record interventions, a small share reflect openly racist or patronising views.