Immigrant and Ethnic Minority Representation in Europe: Conceptual Challenges and Theoretical Approaches

This article introduces the symposium on the representation of immigrant-origin and ethnic minorities in Europe.It argues for the importance of research on this topic, not-ing the large, established populations of immigrant-origin citizens and their descendants across Western European countries and these minorities' underrepresentation in elected bodies.Current research gaps concern both empirical knowledge and the theoretical conceptualisation of immigrant and ethnic minority political involvement.The article argues that existing research on representation needs to be extended to suit the cases of immigrants and ethnic minorities.It ends by providing a brief overview of each contribution to the symposium.Immigrants and their descendants do not feature prominently among European parliamentarians.Their limited numbers contrast sharply with the large proportion of immigrant-origin citizens in many European states.Immigrants' absence from political institutions does not seem to be a simple reflection of recent arrival or slow acquisition of citizenship.Countries that experienced major immigration in the 1950s and 1960s are still far away from equal representation.The United