Itzkovitch-Malka & Oshri. 'The weight on her shoulders: Marginalization of female legislators in parliaments and substantive representation of women.'(British Journal of Political Science). Studies have widely documented that women’s descriptive representation in parliaments enhances their substantive representation. We probe this relationship under varying levels of women’s collective and individual marginality based on an original dataset documenting the parliamentary behavior of Israeli legislators over the course of 11 parliamentary terms (1977–2015). Using several measures of individual-level marginality such as parliamentary tenure, we show that marginalized female legislators are more prone to engage in gender-related parliamentary activity than their less marginal counterparts, albeit only under a certain threshold of women’s marginality as a group. The paper elucidates the dynamic nature of the relationship between descriptive and substantive representation of disadvantaged groups by demonstrating that it is contingent on their collective standing in parliament and on the marginality of individual legislators as manifested in their strategic choices.

Peterburg & Oshri. Front and centere? Northern Irish Electoral Behaviour in the Age of Brexit (Irish Political Studies). Individuals’ traumatic experiences in post-conflict societies can be channelled either towards resolving differences or further polarising the political sphere. Between 2001 and 2017, Westminster elections in Northern Ireland catapulted the hardline parties to the forefront. In the 2019 election, however, the hardline vote share slumped, whilst that of the centre ground soared, resulting in the lowest level of political polarisation since the early 2000s. What accounts for the transition from a polarised vote to a moderate one? Relying on public opinion surveys and electoral data, we find that Brexit incentivised individuals to vote for parties representing non-sectarian interests. Our results show how voters employ party competition as a balancing mechanism to offset the risk of violence.

Oshri, Kedar & Hazan. 'Voting for Equality: The Gender gap in Voting in the 2013 Israeli Elections.' In this paper, we demonstrate that Israeli women’s positions are more hawkish compared to men’s, yet women support left-leaning parties at higher rates. We address this paradox based on the weight (salience) of a voter’s position regarding a specific issue in determining his or her voting decision. We demonstrate that the position on issues related to foreign affairs is equally important in the voting behavior of both men and women. By contrast, the position on domestic/economic policies has a stronger influence on women’s voting choices than on men’s.

Oshri, Yair & Huddy. The Importance of Attachment to an Ideological Group in Multi-Party Systems:  Evidence from Israel ’. (Party Politics). In this research, we examine the role of attachment to an ideological group as a source of stability in a volatile multi-party system. In two studies conducted in Israel (N=1,320), we show that a multi-item Attachment to an Ideological Group (AIG) scale is strongly tied to vote choice and political engagement, and its effects are independent of, and more powerful than, issue-based ideology and partisan identity strength. Compared to individuals with a weak ideological attachment, those who score highly on the AIG scale are more likely to vote for a party from their ideological camp and participate in politics.

Moreover, in two survey experiments, respondents high in AIG displayed stronger anger or enthusiasm—known harbingers of political action—in response to threat or reassurance to their ideological group’s status, attesting to a link between AIG and political engagement. Our findings underscore the importance of ideological group attachments in a volatile multi-party system.