The quality of divided democracies : minority inclusion exclusion and representation in the new Europe The Quality of Divided Democracies is about how democracy works or fails to work in ethno culturally divided societies. It advances a new theoretical approach to assessing quality of democracy in divided societies and puts it into practice with the focused comparison of two divided democracies Estonia and Latvia. The book uses rich comparative data to tackle the vital questions of what determines a democracys level of inclusiveness and the ways in which minorities can gain access to the policy making process. It uncovers a voice polarization dilemma for minorities inclusion in the democratic process which has implications for academic debates on minority representation and ethnic politics as well as practical implications for international and national institutions promotion of minority rights Introduction: taking minorities out of the footnotes Presence polarization and the five channels for minority inclusion The cases of Estonia and Latvia The parliamentary channel The international channel The city channel The consultations channel The grassroots channel Conclusion: the presence polarization dilemma and the quality of divided