Abstract
In this paper, I analyze the relationship between minority and majority in politics, and how it can influence polarization levels and potential conflict between parties. In particular, I focus on the consequences of a sudden increase in the political power of a minority (e.g. female politicians after a gender quota), and its potential effects on the relationship with the long-standing majority. I first present a theoretical model describing the possible consequences of such increase in minority’s political power, and show how it can lead to accentuated polarization in the case of large differences in political preferences between majority and minority. In the case of a high increase in polarization, a conflict between majority and minority is generated and their preferences on public goods’ investments are subsequently distorted. Furthermore, I test these implications by exploiting the introduction in 2012 of a gender quota in Italian local elections. By the means of a Difference-in-Discontinuity strategy, I show how the increase in female politicians had heterogeneous effects on the level of funding for day care, on the basis of its differential effects on local councils’ polarization levels.