Power to the parties : cohesion and competition in the European Parliament, 1979–2001

Hix, Simon, Noury, Abdul and Roland, Gérard (2005) Power to the parties : cohesion and competition in the European Parliament, 1979–2001. British Journal of Political Science, 35 (2). pp. 209-234. ISSN 0007-1234

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Abstract

How cohesive are political parties in the European Parliament? What coalitions form and why? The answers to these questions are central for understanding the impact of the European Parliament on European Union policies. These questions are also central in the study of legislative behaviour in general. We collected the total population of roll-call votes in the European Parliament, from the first elections in 1979 to the end of 2001 (over 11,500 votes). The data show growing party cohesion despite growing internal national and ideological diversity within the European party groups. We also find that the distance between parties on the left–right dimension is the strongest predictor of coalition patterns. We conclude that increased power of the European Parliament has meant increased power for the transnational parties, via increased internal party cohesion and inter-party competition.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://uk.cambridge.org/journals/jps
Additional Information:	Copyright © 2005 Cambridge University Press. LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (<http://eprints.lse.ac.uk>) of the LSE Research Online website.
Divisions:	Government
Subjects:	J Political Science > JA Political science (General)
Date Deposited:	17 Feb 2006
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2024 01:54
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/635

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