Who Goes Where? Committee Assignments in the Dutch Tweede Kamer

Abstract

In this article, I analyse committee assignments in the Dutch Tweede Kamer across multiple legislative periods (1994–2012). This legislature is important to consider in the ongoing debate about committee assignments given that its electoral system minimises constituency-related assignment factors. The theoretical framework comprises the congressional theories of legislative organisation but highlights the involvement of parliamentary party groups in the assignment process. The hypotheses are tested using a multiple-membership multilevel model with additional evidence from 28 interviews with legislators. The results indicate that legislators’ educational and occupational backgrounds are important factors in the assignment process but show that partisan influences matter as well.