| Democratic Politics in the European Parliament Contributor(s): Hix, Simon (Author), Noury, Abdul G. (Author), Roland, Gerard (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0521694604 ISBN-13: 9780521694605 Publisher: Cambridge University Press OUR PRICE: $39.89 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: May 2007 Annotation: With the European Parliament comprising politicians from many different countries, cultures, languages, national parties and institutional backgrounds, one might expect politics in the Parliament to be highly-fragmented and unpredictable. By studying more than 12,000 recorded votes between 1979 and 2004 this book establishes that the opposite is in fact true: transnational parties in the European Parliament are highly cohesive and the classic 'left-right' dimension dominates voting behaviour. Furthermore, the cohesion of parties in the European Parliament has increased as the powers of the Parliament have increased. The authors suggest that the main reason for these developments is that like-minded MEPs have incentives to form stable transnational party organizations and to use these organizations to compete over European Union policies. They suggest that this is a positive development for the future of democratic accountability in the European Union. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Political Science | International Relations - General - Political Science | Political Process - General - Political Science | Intergovernmental Organizations |
| Dewey: 328.4 |
| LCCN: 2006034601 |
| Series: Themes in European Governance |
| Physical Information: 0.61" H x 6.33" W x 8.93" (0.96 lbs) 260 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Western Europe - Cultural Region - Central Europe - Cultural Region - Eastern Europe |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: With the European Parliament comprising politicians from many different countries, cultures, languages, national parties and institutional backgrounds, one might expect politics in the Parliament to be highly-fragmented and unpredictable. By studying more than 12,000 recorded votes between 1979 and 2004 this 2007 book establishes that the opposite is in fact true: transnational parties in the European Parliament are highly cohesive and the classic 'left-right' dimension dominates voting behaviour. Furthermore, the cohesion of parties in the European Parliament has increased as the powers of the Parliament have increased. The authors suggest that the main reason for these developments is that like-minded MEPs have incentives to form stable transnational party organizations and to use these organizations to compete over European Union policies. They suggest that this is a positive development for the future of democratic accountability in the European Union. |
Contributor Bio(s): Hix, Simon: - Simon Hix is Professor of European and Comparative Politics in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics and Political Science.Noury, Abdul G.: - Abdul G. Noury is Associate Professor in the Department of Economics and the Institute for European Studies at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.Roland, Gerard: - Gérard Roland is Professor in the Departments of Economics and Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. |
