Parliamentary Party Groups: To Whom is the Midfield Accountable?

Abstract

In multiparty parliamentary democracies, the parliamentary party groups (PPGs) relate to voters and the general public, to the party organization, and—particularly if in government—to government initiatives. Especially in countries with traditionally strong party organizations, like in the Nordic democracies, this puts the PPGs at the crossroad of three different streams of policy making. Modeling unitary parties consequently become a dubious undertaking. Weak party discipline in parliament may of course be an indication that the overall party unity is shaky. But also strong disciplined PPGs may act in ways that fragmentize overall party power. Moreover, it follows that not considering the crucial power of PPGs and the role they play in decision making may lead to inadequate maps of power structures. In this chapter, I will first explore the position attributed to PPGs in some recent works on parties and parliaments. Expanding on the work by Heidar and Koole, I explore the thesis that PPGs are underestimated in many works both on parties and on parliaments. The chapter provides a discussion of the implications of this relative neglect for both fields of research.