Ethnic party

Party formed to represent an ethnic group An ethnic party is a political party that overtly presents itself as the champion of one ethnic group or sets of ethnic groups. Ethnic parties make such representation central to their voter mobilization strategy. An alternate designation is 'Political parties of minorities', but they should not be confused with regionalist or separatist parties, whose purpose is territorial autonomy or independence. Definitions There are varied definitions of both ethnicity and ethnic parties. Ethnicity Kanchan Chandra defines ethnic identity narrowly as a subset of identity categories determined by the belief of common descent. She rejects expansive definitions of ethnic identity (such as those that include common culture, common language, common history and common territory). Jóhanna Birnir defines ethnicity as "group self-identification around a characteristic that is very difficult or even impossible to change, such as language, race, or location." Ethnic party According to Donna Lee Van Cott,Ethnic party is defined here as an organization authorized to compete in local or national elections; the majority of its leadership and membership identify them