Institut d'études avancées de Paris
France
fellow
Willibald Sonnleitner
2025-2026
Home institution
El Colegio de Mexico
Country of origin (home institution)
Mexico
Discipline(s)
Political Sciences
Theme(s)
Democracy, Citizenship, Governance; Inequalities, inclusion & Social Innovation
Fellowship dates
›
Biography
Willibald Sonnleitner is a Senior Research Professor at El Colegio de Mexico, where he teaches Political Science, Electoral Sociology and Methodology. He has been Visiting Professor at Sciences Po and at the Universities of Columbia, Chicago and Harvard. As an international expert in electoral management and institutional engineering, he has served on 21 electoral observation and assistance missions in Latin America. He was awarded Mexico’s National Award of Social Research and Public Opinion, and contributes regularly in the media. His current research focuses on the political representation of vulnerable minorities, on legislative quotas and affirmative action. He has widely published on elections and voting, political violence and ethnicity, electoral geography, polarization and (de-)democratization.
Research Project
Disentangling the Puzzle of Minority Representation in Unequal Societies: Comparative Perspectives on Affirmative Action and the Challenges for the political inclusion of vulnerable populations
In contrast to participation, political representation is a major puzzle of contemporary democracy. Over the past centuries, modern Nations successfully extended suffrage, making it nearly universal. Yet the ideal of popular representation remains a conundrum: What may be delegated to representatives, and how are they to be accountable to citizens? Is representation a matter of “being like”, or is it a way of “acting on behalf of” a constituency? How can the representation of vulnerable minorities be enhanced in highly unequal societies?
Mexico is particularly salient to study this major societal challenge. Here, legislative quotas gradually achieved gender parity, culminating with the election of 74 legislators who self-identify as indigenous, Afro-Mexican, migrants, disabled or sexually diverse persons, in 2024. But quotas are not a magic wand, and descriptive representation not necessarily ensures symbolic nor substantive representation. What barriers do minority candidates face, which types of quotas work better, and what are their downsides and costs? How do elected legislators act: as delegates, as trustees, or independently of their vulnerable constituents? What lessons can be learned from this fascinating case?
This comparative research seeks to disentangle the puzzles of minority representation, to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of quotas, to identify other affirmative actions and best practices, and to propose strategies to fuel a better informed, public debate.
Research Interests:
Political Studies, Political Representation