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Democratic Politics in the European Parliament

Gerard Roland author Simon Hix author Abdul G Noury author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Cambridge University Press

Published:19th Apr '07

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Democratic Politics in the European Parliament cover

This 2007 book argues that a strong party system in the European Parliament is promoting democratic accountability.

This 2007 book establishes that the parties in the European Parliament are cohesive and that political competition in this chamber is dominated by the left-right dimension, just as in other democratic parliaments. The authors argue that this is a positive development for the future of the EU's democratic accountability.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.

'Combining a solid understanding of European integration with the latest advances in legislative studies, Democratic Politics in the European Parliament is bound to change our thinking of EU politics. Hix, Noury and Roland have produced a book that is empirically rich, theoretically challenging, methodologically sophisticated and yet written in highly accessible language. It is safe to promise that this book will become a landmark text among both EU scholars and students of parliaments.' Tapio Raunio, Professor of Political Science, University of Tampere
'An original and compelling case for recognising the growing importance of party politics in the European Parliament.' Michael Shackleton, European Parliament Secretariat

  • Winner of Richard F. Fenno Prize for the Best Book Published in the Field of Legislative Studies 2007

ISBN: 9780521694605

Dimensions: 229mm x 152mm x 14mm

Weight: 350g

260 pages