ABSTRACT
Political equality is a fundamental tenet of democracy, and political scientists have long sought to understand the explanations for and consequences of its lack. Over the past four decades, important works in the American and Comparative subfields have contributed to our knowledge. We know, for instance, that inequalities in the political arena often stem from inequalities in the economic and social spheres. We know that inequalities seem to track membership in various types of identity-based groups. And we know that these inequalities on the whole appear to be persistent, rather than rotating; certain groups are nearly always advantaged and others disadvantaged.
