National Parliamentarians Research Articles

The indirect effect of gender on perceived career and influence among German national parliamentarians

ABSTRACTThis article investigates mechanisms behind career and influence (in)equality among men and women in the German Parliament (Bundestag). The German members of parliament (MPs) comprises a particularly interesting political elite to study as the parliament already contains a critical mass of women, although the gender regime setting of the country is relatively conservative. To collect the data required for this study, a survey was conducted on the entire German Parliament. This article employs a Structural Equation Model which was confirmed to fit the empirical data well, and shows that, although no general effects of gender were apparent, gender indirectly, through housework demands, affected career and influence as perceived by the MPs themselves (self-assessed).

Whom to represent? National parliamentary representation during the eurozone crisis

ABSTRACTThe eurozone crisis is commonly associated with a politicization of public debate along national lines. With money being redistributed between member states, national parliamentarians (MPs) seem likely to pit national interests against each other. There is, however, an overlooked second force. Interdependence between eurozone states may lead national MPs and their voters to take into account other European Union citizens. Looking at MPs’ parliamentary speeches, this article fills a gap by investigating if and under which conditions individual MPs claim to represent Europeanized constituencies during the crisis. The analysis based on original data from a representative claims analysis of plenary debates on the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in Austria, Germany and Ireland reveals such Europeanized representation. Interestingly, being pro-European does not lead to Europeanized representation. Instead, we witness a ‘Eurosceptic Europeanization’ in that (left-wing) Eurosceptic MPs voice opposition to the crisis measures, but in the name of European citizens.

The Psychological Underpinnings of Conservative/Liberal Ideology in the Australian Federal Parliament: A Computational Linguistic Analysis

The purpose of this article is to examine the psychological elements of the ideology of members of the major parties in the Australian federal parliament using computational linguistics. The cohort consists of the 485 Labor, Liberal and National parliamentarians who were in parliament over the period April 1996 to July 2014. I use computational linguistics to extract linguistic variables from first speeches in parliament of those in the cohort. I draw from methods used in machine learning to develop a classifier which has a 74% out of sample (leave-one-out cross validation) accuracy in classifying parliamentarians as liberal (ALP) or conservative (Liberal/National Party Coalition). I then examine the salient variables and find that there are only six linguistic markers of conservative/liberal ideology. Of these, two are consistent with the previous findings that liberals tend to display more psychological 'openness' than conservatives and less psychological 'conscientiousness'. However, one of these variables strongly challenges the idea that conservatives look to the past and liberals to the future. Two of the linguistic variables are 'suppressor' variables and I discuss these variables in the context of their role in suppressing 'irrelevant' variance in the other independent variables.

The European Parliament and the UK Parliament: A Relationship in Foreign Policy

It is often argued that the crucial democratic body of the European Union (EU) is the European parliament. Over time, the European parliament's role has increased from being a consultative body to one which has an institutionalised co‐decision authority in EU lawmaking. After the Lisbon treaty and the abolition of the Western European Union (WEU), the European parliament also has an increasingly important role as an intergovernmental European assembly. This article examines the British discussion about the country's commitment to parliamentary scrutiny, representation and supervision, in which the need for a genuine debate over representation within the EU is highlighted. British prime ministers have, in most cases, defined both the government's and parliament's stance on European integration either through their personal role, or through wide‐ranging discussions in their cabinets. However, in the 2000s, the Houses’ parliamentary committees have also influenced the shaping of the British position through their scrutiny of European policies. They were effective in the scrutiny of the Common Foreign and Defence Policy (CFDP), arguing that the government should keep parliament informed of discussions concerning the CFDP, and that the quality of the democratic process depended largely on the relationship between the British national parliament and the government. The parliamentary committees and the government both agreed that parliamentary scrutiny should not be left to the European parliament alone; the participation of national parliamentarians with specialist knowledge of the EU level was also seen as especially important.

The ‘Russia Threat’ in the Eyes of National Parliamentarians: An Opportunity for Foreign Policy Integration?

This study aims to understand whether recent tensions between the EU and Russia are likely to increase support for a common European foreign policy among national political elites. Although the EU as a whole is still far from being able to speak with one voice, it is difficult to explain the reasons sovereign states decide to cooperate in foreign policy. This study relies on two detailed élite surveys describing the opinions of national parliamentarians in 16 EU member states before and after the Russo–Georgian War in the summer of 2008. The results show that following the war, the perception of a threat from Russia helps persuade the least Euro-enthusiastic MPs to support a common EU foreign policy.

BEYOND EUROSCEPTISISM AND EURIPHILIA: MULTIPLE VIEWS ABOUT EUROPE

The purpose of this paper is to map the structure of preferences concerning the European Union held by parliamentarians of the member states. The opinions of national politicians are relevant as they influence the governments which participate in the institutions and the decision making processes of the Union. Do they evaluate the European integration process according to a single independence-integration dimension? Or do they acknowledge the existence of multiple lines of conflict? Is the structure of preferences stable? Finally, how are national parliamentarians grouped according to their preferences and what this can tell about the future of European Integration? This paper, based on a two waves survey of national parliamentarians belonging to 16 member states, analyses their views about the “governance system” and the “policy goals” of the EU. The findings of this paper shed some new light on several old questions. Firstly, while several studies assume that the preferences about European Integration can be ordered in a one-dimensional continuum that has the “status quo” and “complete integration” as the two opposite poles, this paper shows that the preferences of national parliamentarians have a multi-dimensional structure. Secondly it moves to analyse the four main clusters of national parliamentarians which these preferences generate. And thirdly it discusses how these clusters react to different problems and challenges the EU faces today.

Political elites’ media responsiveness and their individual political goals: A study of national politicians in Belgium

This paper addresses the micro level variation in media responsiveness by political elites. It hypothesizes that individual political goals, in addition to party position, affect the extent to which MPs’ parliamentary initiatives are inspired by media cues. Regression analysis on data from a survey with Belgian national parliamentarians confirms this assumption. Opposition MPs react more to the media than coalition MPs. Within parties, MPs who are focused on party political goals display higher levels of media responsiveness than MPs who are not. The findings are explained by the differential usefulness of news coverage for various political actors.

Legislators in Myanmar's First “Post-Junta” National Parliament (2010–2015): A Sociological Analysis

In an attempt to better grasp the realities of Myanmar's national legislature, which was formed after the 2010 elections, this paper examines the personal profiles and social backgrounds of its elected and appointed members. I have sought to record data on the social composition of Myanmar's first “post-junta” parliament and provide a dataset for further comparative research on the resurgence of legislative affairs in the country. The study draws on official publications containing the biographies of 658 national parliamentarians. Focusing on six socio-demographic variables, the findings suggest that the typical Burmese legislator still closely mirrors the conventional image of Myanmar's characteristic postcolonial leader: a man, in his mid-fifties, ethnically Bamar, Buddhist, holding a Myanmar university degree, engaged in business activities or in the education sector (in the case of the 492 elected legislators) or in the security sector (for the 166 military appointees). However, I argue that the profile of Myanmar's first post-junta legislature offers a quite unexpected level of diversity that may augur well for the emergence of a new civilian policymaking elite in Myanmar.

Does remuneration affect the discipline and the selection of politicians? Evidence from pay harmonization in the European Parliament

We study the harmonization of the base remuneration for the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who were previously paid like national parliamentarians implying large differences between the delegations from the 27 member countries. Based on detailed information on individual MEPs between 2004 and 2011, we find that the reform, which comes with an exceptional increase of, on average, 200 percent per national delegation, has a positive incentive effect on in-office effort as approximated by engagement in speeches, written declarations and drafted reports. However, a higher remuneration increases absence. With respect to political selection, we find that a higher remuneration increases re-election rates. The composition of the pool of MEPs in terms of (ex-ante) quality approximated with formal education, previous political experience and occupational background is, however, unaffected. If we restrict our attention to freshmen, we find that a higher remuneration is related to a lower fraction of MEPs with previous political experience at the highest national level.

In a Spirit of Solidarity? Justifying the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in National Parliamentary Debates

AbstractThis article examines national parliamentarians’ approval of the increased budgetary capacity of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in autumn 2011. Following the analysis of vote outcome and plenary debates in 11 euro states, it is found that the financial position of a state (creditors versus debtors) does not explain the patterns of support and opposition. Rather, two other factors account for these differences: Euroscepticism, and the government and opposition cleavage. In particular, whereas Eurosceptic MPs voted and argued against the EFSF, the parliamentary majorities supported it. Surprisingly, although the legal basis of the EFSF draws on solidarity among the European Union Member States, the supporters of the EFSF did not refer to this principle in their speeches but rather to pragmatic considerations such as national economic interests.

Who Cares About the EU? French MPs and the Europeanisation of Parliamentary Questions

This study is based on the idea that the effective involvement of national parliamentarians in European Union (EU) affairs is as important for the capacity of national parliaments to adapt to the consequences of European integration as the elaboration of new institutional mechanisms. It therefore investigates the attention given to Europe in parliamentary questions as an indicator of the Europeanisation of the French National Assembly. Have French MPs developed a greater degree of attention to Europe in their ordinary work? What are the factors behind individual variations in MPs' attention to Europe? The empirical analysis of more than 334,000 questions from 1988 to 2007 shows the limited Europeanisation of French MPs' work, revealing that the type of questions (oral, written, to the government) is the most significant factor explaining the level of attention given to Europe.

Gender Inequality Among Political Elites in Comparative Perspective

Are gender inequalities in work/life outcomes apparent among those positioned at the powerful top of society’s hierarchy, and if so, why? There is currently a lack of consistent knowledge about what happens to those women who have reached the most influential positions of society, and about whether (and how) their situation differs from that of their male counterparts. This is particularly so in the case of political elites, about whom very few current studies exist. This thesis investigates gender and individual-level work/life outcomes among political elites (national parliamentarians) comparing two cases: Sweden and Germany. The research builds on empirical investigations from self-collected survey data covering finite populations of Swedish and German national parliamentarians. Parts of this political elite data are further matched to existing, large-scale databases from the European Social Survey, consisting of representative samples of general citizens, and of general elites, of the two nations. This allows reference comparisons to be made between the political elites and average citizens of the respective countries. To provide additional depth to the findings, the quantitative investigation was also complemented by a qualitative interview study. The results showed gender inequality in the strength of demand and support experienced in the home-sphere of the political elites (such as concerning household work and functional partner support). These gender discrepancies were more pronounced in the case of Germany than in Sweden. However, gender equality was observed concerning perceived career and influence possibilities in the work-sphere, and concerning general subjective well-being, in both the German and Swedish case of political elites.

Representative Democracy Across Levels? National Parliaments and EU Constitutionalism

This contribution analyses the meaning and practical application of the concepts of representative democracy and constitutionalism in relation to national parliaments within the European Union. A specific focus of investigation is the post-Lisbon function of national parliaments as conceptualised in a variety of models of EU constitutionalism. These models underline the importance of the independent roles of national parliaments by observing them not in the classic constellation of hierarchy but rather in that of heterarchy. However, there is as yet no sophisticated methodological approach for assessing the interactions between national parliaments and EU institutions and there is very little evidence of national parliamentarians performing as European actors. In order to test the theoretical premises, the article delves into the political praxis and examines the manner in which MPs and senators apply scrutiny instruments regarding a number of EU dossiers that were the object of cross-level discussions within the frameworks of COSAC, the Barroso Initiative and the early warning mechanism. The objective of the inquiry is to test the hypothesis that national parliamentary scrutiny of EU decision making does not occur as an isolated domestic process but as a process that is interdependent with those unravelling at the EU level, and that such scrutiny has implications for the European Union’s democratic legitimacy

The institutionalization of a parliamentary dimension of an intergovernmental organization: the WTO

AbstractThe article analyses the development of a parliamentary dimension of the WTO from the first informal meetings of parliamentarians in 1996, via the adoption of Rules of Procedure for yearly Parliamentary Conferences on the WTO in 2004, to March 2011 when for the first time the Parliamentary Conference took place on the premises of the WTO. The author presents theoretical contributions that may explain why national parliamentarians engage in an intergovernmental organization such as the WTO. The development of the parliamentary dimension is related to the crumbling borderline between domestic and international affairs. Finally, the article raises a number of questions for further research, and for consideration among parliamentarians as well as in the WTO.

Paper Tigers or Sleeping Beauties? National Parliaments in the Post-Lisbon European Political System

There remains a degree of uncertainty about the role of national parliaments in the European system of governance under the rules of the Treaty of Lisbon. The legion of 10,000 national parliamentarians should guard the principle of subsidiarity in EU legislation, which now constitutes about one quarter of all laws adopted in member states. Confusion arises over how many of the new post-Lisbon prerogatives belong to individual national chambers, and how many require a collective response. Until the ‘collective’ voice is organised effectively, national parliaments will remain ‘paper tigers’ in the EU decision-making process. The national chambers’ powers could have far-reaching consequences, however, as one of their roles is to contribute to the ‘good governance’ of the European Union. Even though the readiness of national chambers to engage actively in EU affairs is limited, it is on the increase, albeit disproportionately.

The Parliamentary Assembly's Involvement in the Supervision of the Judgments of the Strasbourg Court

Even though the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe has primary responsibility to supervise the execution of the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights, by virtue of Article 46(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Parliamentary Assembly has increasingly contributed to the process of implementation of the Strasbourg Court's judgments. Composed of national parliamentarians, the Assembly can put pressure on States parties to the Convention to help ensure – through appropriate national parliamentary oversight procedures and mechanisms – rapid and complete implementation of Strasbourg Court judgments. This important parliamentary dimension should be taken into account when the 2010 Interlaken Declaration and Action Plan are implemented.

Gender Equity of Perceived Career and Influence Opportunities among Political Elites: The Case of Swedish Parliamentarians

Under which conditions is gender equity accomplished in terms of career and influence opportunities among elites? We hypothesize that an equal distribution of home/family sphere work demands, in combination with equal levels of person―environment 'fit' between men and women in the organization, contributes to gender equity in terms of (intra-organizational) career success, in turn enabling gender equity of influence possibilities among elite-positioned individuals. We further argue that for such equal gender distributions to occur in the first place, a welfare state setting that encourages equal divisions of private/public labour between the genders (i), and an organization containing a 'balanced' gender group proportion (ii), need to be evident. The theoretical propositions are integrated into a conceptual model and its individual-level dimensions are then tested empirically. We use a unique dataset covering one of the few existing elite populations situated in a context where the two identified macro conditions (i and ii) are evident. The model is tested on survey data from a total population of Swedish National Parliamentarians (with a remarkably high 83 per cent response rate), using structural equation modelling (SEM). The model fits well with data (P=0.23) and the main hypotheses are confirmed. Adding additional control variables does not change the initial results.

The Treaty of Lisbon, the National Parliaments and the Principle of Subsidiarity

This article critically analyses the provisions of the Treaty of Lisbon that are designed to enhance the involvement of national parliaments in the European Union. It compares the rights offered to national parliaments with what the parliaments already enjoy by virtue of existing treaty law and of domestic constitutional law. In that light, most of the Lisbon provisions are purely symbolic. However, the article also offers a more positive perspective. Instead of focusing on the rights that the treaty provisions actually confer upon national parliaments (constitutive value), it is suggested to consider their capacity to raise European awareness among national parliamentarians and to prompt them to make use of the powers they already have (catalyst value). In that perspective, the Treaty of Lisbon has had a remarkable effect already, even before having entered into force.

The Technocratic Labor Thesis Revisited

In the 1970s Australian New Left theorists used the Technocratic Labor thesis to criticize the ALP. This held that middle-class university educated people were taking over the ALP and moving it to the right. Thirty years later there appears to be much substance to their argument. The ALP has increasingly been led by middle-class people and has moved to the right. It has also narrowed the recruiting base for its national parliamentarians, most of who are now groomed within the party and its affiliates rather than being drawn from the wider community. Nonetheless, the political utility of the argument may be questioned since most of the Australian workforce is now in the services sector and many are also middle class and university educated.

The Federal Politics of Importing Spent Nuclear Fuel: Inter‐branch Bargaining and Oversight in the New Russia

IN JULY 2001 PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN took the controversial step of signing legislation that permitted the import into Russia of foreign origin spent nuclear fuel.1 Over the preceding two years national parliamentarians, regional politicians and local civic and non-governmental groups had actively opposed the campaign by the Ministry of Atomic Energy (Minatom) to import irradiated material for indefinite storage and reprocessing, fearing government abuse and the environmental risks. Putin's approval ostensibly ended the formal debate over the strategic, political, social and economic merits of the programme and positioned Russia to earn a projected $21 billion in foreign contracts over the ensuing decade. Notwithstanding lingering technical uncertainties, the passage of the spent nuclear fuel legislation is held up as testament to President Putin's success at recentralising the Russian political landscape and taking back power from the regions. Symptomatic of reinvigorated 'vertical control', the lower chamber of parliament (State Duma) folded under executive branch pressure, and the newly reconstituted upper chamber (Federation Council) backed down from repeated threats of forcing a showdown. The approval also seemed to confirm dark suspicions of the Putin team's political instincts, as the government arbitrarily disregarded the public's overwhelmingly negative attitude towards importing radioactive waste, and quashed national and regional petitions for referenda on the programme. In their haste to side with the President, politicians across Russia revealed deep cynicism and disdain for grass-roots political activism and environmental protection. Simply put, the politics of amending the spent fuel legislation seemed to epitomise executive domination of policy making and growing distance between the state and public interest in the new Russia.2 What is often overlooked, however, is that both Minatom and President Putin made considerable substantive and political sacrifices to secure legislative approval of the spent nuclear fuel programme. The new legislation obliged Minatom to share future profits among affected regions and an array of social causes, and to submit the programme to intrusive oversight. Early government attempts to exploit loopholes and ambiguity in the new laws failed miserably at home and abroad. The inability to land concrete contracts for over two and a half years following passage of the legislation dampened subsequent enthusiasm among proponents and prompted more circumspec-