Why Political Reservations?
利用印度证据，评估为弱势群体（如女性、种族或宗教少数群体）设立政治保留席位的理由，对关注政治代表性和公共政策的研究者有用。
Many countries are amending their political systems to set aside positions to groups, such as women and racial or religious minorities, that are perceived as being disadvantaged. Using evidence from India, this article assesses the case for these reservations. Several countries have introduced procedures—either explicit quotas or forms of gerrymandering—to ensure political representation of disadvantaged groups, such as women or ethnic minorities. In 2001, quotas for women in parliaments were in force in more than 30 countries. In India, seats are reserved for historically disadvantaged groups (Scheduled Castes, or SC, and Scheduled Tribes, or ST) in federal or state legislative assemblies and for both historically disadvantaged groups and women at all levels of the Panchayat system, the system of decentralized decision making. On the basis of evidence accumulated about the Indian experience, this paper reviews the case for reservation.