Dyadic Representation in a Westminster System

Is policy representation in contemporary Westminster systems solely a function of programmatic national parties, or does the election of legislators via single‐member districts result in MPs whose policy positions are individually responsive to public opinion in their constituencies? We generate new measures of constituency opinion in Britain and show that, in three different policy domains and controlling for MP party, the observed legislative behavior of MPs is indeed responsive to constituency opinion. The level of responsiveness is moderate, but our results do suggest a constituency‐MP policy bond that operates in addition to the well‐known bond between voters and parties.     

Protesters,Parliamentarians, Policymakers: The Experiences of Australian Green MPs

This article details the distinctive style and political commitments that Green members of parliament (MPs) bring to representative democracy in Australia. Based on in-depth interviews with 16 sitting federal and state Green MPs, it examines the extent to which the political culture, grassroots organisation and values of this left-libertarian party influence the parliamentary role orientations and legislative behaviour of its MPs, and how this fits with existing research on parliamentary representatives. The analysis reveals mixed results: while the legislative priorities and representative focus of MPs appear to be influenced more by previous social movement and parliamentary experience rather than overarching party orientations, the party's culture has had a strong impact on MPs' views regarding issues of conscience and their style of representation. Drawing on the comparative experience of Green parties throughout Western Europe, this article utilises the prism of role orientations to assess the conflicting imperatives Australian Green MPs face in staying true to their movement origins while their party becomes increasingly professional and influential in the parliamentary arena.     

Up and Down,Old and New: Values and Value Systems of MPs and Voters in France

MPs are often criticised as being homogeneous. This is well known in terms of social background or gender, but the criticism also holds for values and norms. MPs are said to share normative agreements on the essential points and demonstrate differences on second-order issues. This criticism is even more widespread regarding the new politics based on the cultural divide, notably vis-à-vis politicians from the extreme right as far as immigration, European integration or globalisation are concerned. In this contribution, these criticisms are addressed by investigating the degree of normative agreements and disagreements of French MPs. Furthermore, the differences both in old and new politics between MPs on the one hand and the electorate as a whole and their supporters on the other hand are evaluated. It is concluded that MPs are definitely not all the same and the degrees of difference among MPs or with the electorate are far from being those expected.     

Beyond collective representation: individual members of parliament and interest representation in the Netherlands

In political representation research it is now generally recognised that in parliamentary systems political parties rather than individual members of parliament are the key actors in the process of political representation. However, this focus on political parties might have led to an underestimation of the role of individual members of parliament in this process, even in purely parliamentary systems. It tends to neglect the efforts of representatives to secure particular benefits for individuals or groups in their constituencies. In this paper we will address the question to what extent these forms of representation are part of the repertoire of activities of members of the Dutch parliament as compared to other European parliaments.     

Costly Signals: Voter Responses to Parliamentary Dissent in Austria,Britain, and Germany

When Members of Parliament (MPs) disagree publicly with their party, this provides a signal to voters regarding both their political views and their character valence. We argue that the strength of this signal to voters depends on the personal career costs an MP incurs by dissenting. The greater the perceived costs of dissent to the MP, the more positively voters should react to dissent. In line with this theory, we use a series of conjoint analysis experiments in Britain, Germany, and Austria to show that: (1) dissent has a more positive effect on voter evaluations in systems where the costs of dissent are higher, and (2) more costly types of dissent have a greater impact on voter evaluations. These findings have important implications for understanding how voter evaluations of MPs depend on beliefs about parliamentary systems and how parliamentary institutions condition the link between voters and MPs.     

Conclusion: Challenging the Conventional Wisdoms about Parliamentary Representation in France

The seven papers gathered in this issue contradict four conventional prejudices about the French Parliament and its members. They show that citizens and MPs are not necessarily attached to a ‘general’ conception of representation, in which MPs represent the French Nation as a whole, with no reference to a territory or to specific interest groups. Second, the papers demonstrate that MPs are not perceived as an aristocracy agreeing on values and interests beyond political cleavages. Third, they prove that the representation gap between citizens and MPs is usually exaggerated and that electors are quite aware of the difficulties of being a deputy. Finally, they also establish that the weakness of the French Parliament and its submission to the executive power are often exaggerated. French MPs are nevertheless strongly focused on their constituencies and not much involved in parliamentary work; further, they are certainly not that enthusiastic about an eventual empowerment of their assembly.     

Political representation in the networked society: the Americanisation of European systems of responsible party government?

The Internet provides a new technological opportunity structure for political representatives to communicate with constituents. Its potential for decentralised, interactive mass communication allows MPs to bypass intermediary organisations such as political parties and to establish a direct relationship with their constituents. Students of electronic democracy are divided over the political consequences of this technological change in telecommunications. While cyber-optimists envisage a transformation of responsible party government into a more direct, individualised type of political representation, cyber-sceptics adopt a more cautious approach and predict a reinforcement of established systems of political representation in the networked society. This article aims to develop a theoretical foundation as well as to carry out an empirical test of both positions. In the theoretical section, these two contradictory positions are modelled on the assumption that party government is a rationalistic concept. In the empirical section, both positions are tested in a statistical analysis of the use of personal websites in the German Bundestag, the Swedish Riksdag and the US House of Representatives.     

Fiscal transparency puzzle and electoral institutions: applying a 3Ds approach for tracking the action cycle in Egypt

This article aims at contributing to the discussion on the fiscal transparency puzzle. The authors challenge the idea that fiscal disclosure can directly increase fiscal accountability. Using an original data set at the level of individual members of parliament (MPs) in the Egyptian parliament, constructed from content analysis of budgetary discussions during the period 2000–10, it is shown that political incentives determined by a majoritarian electoral system curbed the willingness to check government fiscal behaviour, even among opposition MPs. This is because MPs still favoured pork-barrel behaviour to boost their re-election chances. Moreover, fiscal data disclosed could not be communicated to voters and the opposition showed a relatively higher avoidance against fiscal disclosure. The authors conclude that the electoral system is a dominant factor in shaping the final effect of transparency given its influence on the structure of political incentives.     

Throwing the rascals out? The electoral effects of corruption allegations and corruption scandals in Europe 1981–2011

Corrupt politicians have to a surprisingly great extent been found to go unpunished by the electorate. These findings are, however, drawn from case studies on a limited number of countries. This study, on the contrary, is based on a unique dataset from 215 parliamentary election campaigns in 32 European countries between 1981 and 2011, from which the electoral effects of corruption allegations and corruption scandals are analyzed. Information about the extent to which corruption allegations and scandals have occurred is gathered from election reports in several political science journals, and the electoral effects are measured in terms of the electoral performances—the difference in the share of votes between two elections—of all parties in government, as well as the main incumbent party, and the extent to which the governments survive the election. The control variables are GDP growth and unemployment rate the year preceding the election, the effective number of parliamentary and electoral parties, and the level of corruption. The results show that both corruption allegation and corruption scandals are significantly correlated with governmental performances on a bivariate basis; however, not with governmental change. When controlling for other factors, only corruption allegation has an independent effect on government performances. The study thus concludes—in line with previous research—that voters actually punish corrupt politicians, but to a quite limited extent.     

Concepts of Representation and the Passage of the Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Bill

The Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Bill was introduced to the House of Commons in October 2001, gaining Royal Assent in February 2002. The Bill followed the decrease in the numbers of women elected in the 2001 General Election. It permits political parties to introduce positive action in the selection of candidates. The Bill received cross party support and had an easy passage through both Houses of Parliament. Informed by feminist concepts of representation this article examines the arguments employed by MPs and Peers in support of the legislation. Arguments associated with the claim that women have a different political style received little support. There was greater discussion of, and support for, arguments based on symbolic representation and substantive representation, although many MPs were reluctant to make the strong claim that women's substantive representation is dependent upon women's presence. However, the most widely supported argument in favour of the Bill was the justice argument, namely, that women are currently being denied equal opportunities in the parties' selection processes.     

MPs' Role Orientations in Newly Emerged Democratic Legislatures

Understanding the behaviour of the elected representatives at the beginning of the transition period in former Communist countries provides an insight into some of the first freely elected parliaments after decades of authoritarianism. The role perception grasps the essence of how MPs position themselves in their decision-making process in a fuzzy institutional setting. By relying on the sole established institutions for that period (that is, political parties), this article tests to what extent the party type and size explain role orientations of the MPs in terms of delegates (from the party), trustees, and politicos. Using a dataset that includes over 600 MPs from four parliaments, this cross-national analysis reveals that MPs belonging to newly emerged and rather small parties are more likely to be party delegates compared with their colleagues.     

UK parliamentary perspectives on Europe 1971–93

The controversy over UK membership of the European Union shows no sign of abating, even though 20 years have passed since the unprecedented referendum which was supposed to settle the issue. The political and constitutional implications of UK membership are such that growing scholarly interest in the subject is quite understandable. One aspect of the question which awaits proper investigation, however, is the quality of public debate. This neglect is surprising, given regular opinion‐poll findings that the UK electorate feels ill‐informed about Europe and looks to its politicians to remedy the deficiency. This study, which uses both qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse five key parliamentary discussions of the European issue, reveals a marked deterioration in the factual accuracy of contributions by MPs. It offers some possible explanations of this trend, and suggests how this kind of research might be developed further.     

Incumbency Effects under Proportional Representation: Leaders and Backbenchers in the Postwar Italian Chamber of Deputies

We study incumbency effects for individual legislators from two political parties (Christian Democracy and the Italian Socialist Party) in Italy's lower house of representatives over 10 legislatures (1948–92) elected using open‐list proportional representation. Our analysis finds no reelection advantage for the average incumbent legislator. Only a tiny elite in each party successfully creates an incumbency advantage. We find incumbents advantaged for reselection by their political party. We interpret reselection advantage as a party loyalty premium. Our study depicts a political environment monopolized by party leaders who reward party loyalty but hamper legislators in appealing directly to voters.     

Candidate Selection in British Second Order Elections: A Comparison of Electoral System and Party Strategy Effects

Whilst most UK political parties have now accepted the need to increase the number of women representatives, the stark reality is that women remain under-represented. The under-representation of women in UK politics is not just evident in the national legislature but is a pattern repeated, to varying degrees, in second order elections at local, devolved and European levels. Recent developments in political recruitment processes allow us to explore the extent to which political parties take advantage of different electoral systems to promote women candidates in second order elections. Providing analysis of (s)election data from across second order elections, this article explores the interaction between systemic and institutional strategies, questioning which combination of electoral system and party strategy is most beneficial for increasing levels of women's representation.     

Who Represents the Constituency? Online Political Communication by Members of Parliament in the German Mixed-Member Electoral System

Members of parliament (MPs) are elected via two different tiers in mixed-member electoral systems—as winners of a seat in a constituency or as party candidates under proportional rules. While previous research has identified important consequences of this “mandate divide” in parliaments, questions remain how this institutional setup affects MPs' political behavior in other arenas. Analyzing more than one million social media posts, this article investigates regional representation in the online communication of German MPs. The results show that MPs elected under a direct mandate refer approximately twice as often to their constituencies by using regionalized wording and geographic references than MPs elected under the proportional tier. The substantive findings provide new evidence for the benefits of mixed-member electoral systems for political representation while the methodological approach demonstrates the added value of social media data for analyzing the political behavior of elites.     

Personal Characteristics of MPs and Legislative Behavior in Moral Policymaking

Theoretical and empirical models of legislative decision making in parliamentary democracies typically neglect the policy preferences of individual MPs and instead focus on political parties and possible institutional constraints. We argue that MPs actually make judgments and decisions on the basis of their preferences, which are shaped by their personal characteristics. However, given the strength of parties in most parliamentary systems, the impact of personal characteristics on legislative behavior is rarely visible. Therefore, we examine a moral issue. Looking at cosponsorship, parliamentary speeches, and votes in the German Bundestag, we analyze the legislative procedure on the regulation of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in Germany in 2011. We show that the legislative behavior of MPs does not only reflect partisan conflict but is also influenced by the preferences of the constituents and MPs’ own personal characteristics such as: religious denomination, gender, and parental status.     

Strategic communication of EU affairs: an analysis of legislative behaviour on Twitter

An influential literature underlines how much parliamentary communication of European Union (EU) affairs could offer to democracy in the EU. Yet members of parliaments (MPs) seem unmoved by their potential. MPs are strategic about their communication, and this study questions the suitability of EU affairs to their re-election strategies. Analysing the messages posted on Twitter by regional and national MPs from Ireland and the United Kingdom over a four-month period, this article shows that clear electoral safety and strong political responsibility increase the communication of EU affairs. This suggests that the low electoral benefits and the high political complexity of EU affairs are significant deterrents to parliamentary communication of these affairs. As a result, the voices of Eurosceptic MPs echo disproportionately louder on Twitter.     

A breed apart? Northern Ireland's MPs at Westminster

This article examines the marginal role played by Northern Ireland (NI)'s MPs in Parliament. Sectarian conflict, party fragmentation, and regional administrative reorganisation over the last 25 years have heightened the local visibility of NI MPs, with the result that most place a low priority on active participation at Westminster. While Northern Ireland's future constitutional status dominates the political agenda, differences among the province's major parties on this issue have had little effect on how MPs approach constituent matters, intercede with government agencies, or define their representational role. Northern Ireland's MPs tend to have a particularistic perspective, a clientelist orientation, and little practical experience in consensus‐building across communal divisions.     

Wisdom or Indifference? The Principles of Representative Government in the Eyes of the French Voters

This contribution attempts to assess qualitatively the current views of ordinary French citizens about political representation in general and their MPs in particular. In contrast to the Tocquevillian idea of an unequivocal egalitarian claim rising from the people, the results of the present study support the view that citizens tend to adopt both democratic and aristocratic principles in their perceptions of political representation. General support for the electoral procedure captures such ambiguity as elections are not only legitimate on democratic grounds (the egalitarian civic participation) but also on aristocratic grounds (the selection of the best). This study follows an original method involving analysis of discussions from 11 focus groups within French constituencies in 2010–11. The results of an experimental design comparing various kinds of elected position (parents' representatives, workers' representatives, MPs and the President of the Republic) are presented and discussed.     

Why do French MPs Focus More on Constituency Work than on Parliamentary Work?

The relationship between French members of the National Assembly and citizens is paradoxical. On the one hand, the French political culture, constitution and history favour a very abstract conception of representation: MPs are supposed to act as trustees and collectively to embody the French Nation. On the other hand, they are deeply involved in their constituencies and express a great level of satisfaction being there. In order to understand how French MPs reconcile the national and local dimensions of their mandate, the data gathered through face-to-face interviews with MPs are described. Then a scale analysis is provided in order to sum up the local–national orientations of the MPs. Using this scale, it is possible to test the impact of several variables on the territorial focus of MPs: electoral incentives, political ambition, ideological factors and working conditions at the local and the national level.