Minority influence on public organization change: Latinos and local education politics

摘要

The research presented here has three major purposes. The first is to explain howpolitical institutions and policy outputs can change in the presence of a growing minoritypopulation when the preferences of these minorities differ from those of the majority. Ishow how representation in all three branches of government can lead to these changes,specifically in the local legislature and local bureaucracy. Secondly, I demonstrate therelationship between local legislative representation of Latino minority populations tosubstantive policy outcomes that favor this minority group, and explain how variableelectoral institutions influence this relationship. The third general purpose of thisresearch is to make the argument that the study of minority politics need not take placewithin a theoretical vacuum. That is, I use theories of minority group behavior (asopposed to Latino group behavior), and relevant empirical tests, to inform mainstreamdemocratic theory. What democratic theory is missing, I argue, is the ability to fullyexplain and predict changes in institutions, policy, and policy outputs in a dynamicpreference environment. Examining minority politics over time helps fill this void.