Asking territories: the constituency orientation of Italian and French members of the European Parliament

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Sozzi
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Electoral Connection ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior ◽  
Members Of European Parliament ◽  
Elected Representatives

In this article, we explore how electoral systems influence attitudes and behavior of elected representatives. Focusing on constituency representation, we consider how variation in electoral systems may shape forms of political representation. An analysis of written parliamentary questions (PQs) is an important instrument to look at the role of parliamentarians even where, as in the European Parliament, political parties enforce discipline in roll-call voting. This kind of investigation offers the opportunity to partially resolve empirical and theoretical problems related to other methods of research. Unlike voting and speeches, PQs face fewer constrains from party leaders. This article analyses the constituency focus of members of European Parliament from France and Italy. These countries differ with regard to two main dimensions of electoral systems: ballot structure and district magnitude. The study is conducted through a content analysis of 5343 written PQs during the sixth term (2004–09). The results suggest that, despite the lack of strong electoral connection, electoral institutions shape the legislative behavior of the Italian and French parliamentarians providing incentives to cultivate personal reputation and constituency-orientation.

scholarly journals Electoral Institutions and Legislative Behavior: Explaining Voting Defection in the European Parliament

2004 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Hix
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
European Parliament ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
European Union Member State ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Selection Rules ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Despite a sophisticated understanding of the impact of electoral institutions on macrolevel political behavior, little is known about the relationship between these institutions and microlevel legislative behavior. This article reviews existing claims about this relationship and develops a model for predicting how electoral institutions affect the relationship between parliamentarians and their party principals in the context of the European Parliament. The European Parliament is an ideal laboratory for investigating these effects, because in each European Union member state, different institutions are used to elect Members of European Parliament (MEPs). The results of this model, tested on four hundred thousand individual MEP vote decisions, show that candidate-centered electoral systems (such as open-list proportional representation or single-transferable-vote systems) and decentralized candidate-selection rules produce parliamentarians independent from their party principals. By contrast, party-centered electoral systems (such as closed-list proportional representation systems) and centralized candidate-selection rules produce parliamentarians beholden to the parties that fight elections and choose candidates: in the case of the European Parliament, the national parties.

Electoral Competition and the Constituent-Representative Relationship

2013 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 337-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey André ◽  
Sam Depauw
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
Electoral Competition ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Local Orientation ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
District Magnitude ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Elected Representatives ◽  
Cross National

AbstractElectoral institutions shape the incentive that elected representatives have to cultivate a personal vote, a geographically concentrated personal vote in particular. But are electoral institutions able to make representatives do what they would not do otherwise and to make them not do what they otherwise would have done? Using data from the cross-national partirep MP survey, it is demonstrated that electoral institutions shape elected representatives’ local orientation. That local orientation decreases as district magnitude grows – regardless of what representatives think about political representation. But representatives’ conceptions of representation do shape their uptake in the legislative arena from their contacts with individual constituents. The effect of the electoral incentive grows stronger as elected representatives think of representation as a bottom-up rather than a top-down process.

Electoral Systems and Roles in the Legislative Arena

2017 ◽  
pp. 320-344
Author(s):  
Audrey André ◽  
Sam Depauw
Keyword(s):  
Electoral Systems ◽  
The State ◽  
Electoral Institutions ◽  
Legislative Studies ◽  
Role Orientations ◽  
The Common ◽  
Role Concept ◽  
To Come ◽  
Elected Representatives

Do electoral systems impact the roles that elected representatives play in the legislative arena? Despite the concept’s long pedigree in legislative studies, evidence of an association between the electoral institutions and the role orientations adopted by legislators is hard to come by. After detailing what are roles in the legislative arena and reviewing the state of the literature, we explore three possible reasons—critically re-examining the utility of the role concept. After approaching representational roles from the common perspective of the representatives, we turn to the perspective of their principals in the chain of delegation. Only very recently has a literature on citizens’ expectations regarding the representative relationship started to develop, albeit in isolation.

The Promise of Feminist Democratic Representation

2020 ◽  
pp. 153-175
Author(s):  
Karen Celis
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior ◽  
Elected Representatives

Chapter 6 fully elaborates the promise of the authors’ parliamentary design. Ideal representational effects go beyond bringing more women in—through the inclusion of the affected representatives of women—and generating just and fair laws and policies for women. Chapter 6 focuses on the broader effects on both the elected representatives and the represented women—this is what the shift from discrete dimensions of representation to conceiving it as a mélange implies. In short, elected representatives become more knowledgeable, care more about women, and are better connected to women and their experiences. Twin augmentations provide both the means and the incentives for a transformation in elected representatives’ attitudes and behavior. In turn, women finally feel recognized as legitimate members of the polity, are more knowledgeable about their own and others’ interests, are positioned to judge their representatives and are thus empowered, and participate more in a democratic politics now that it is belatedly interested in them.

Using Binding Communication to Promote Conservation Among Hotel Guests

2015 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lohyd Terrier ◽  
Benedicte Marfaing
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Communication Model ◽  
Classical Communication ◽  
Persuasive Message ◽  
Sustainable Behavior ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

This research applies the binding communication model to the sustainable communication strategies implemented in most hotels. The binding communication model links a persuasive message with the implementation of a low-cost commitment to strengthen the link between the attitudes and behavior of those receiving the message. We compared the effectiveness of a classical communication strategy (n = 86) with that of a binding communication strategy (n = 101) to encourage guests to choose sustainable behavior. Our results show that using the binding communication strategy generates significantly more sustainable behavior in guests than using the classical communication strategy. We discuss our results and suggest future avenues of research.

Risk Attitudes and Behavior Among Norwegian Adolescents

2005 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilde Iversen ◽  
Torbjørn Rundmo ◽  
Hroar Klempe
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Behavior Modification ◽  
Health Programs ◽  
Risk Attitudes ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Public Health Programs ◽  
The Core ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

Abstract. The core aim of the present study is to compare the effects of a safety campaign and a behavior modification program on traffic safety. As is the case in community-based health promotion, the present study's approach of the attitude campaign was based on active participation of the group of recipients. One of the reasons why many attitude campaigns conducted previously have failed may be that they have been society-based public health programs. Both the interventions were carried out simultaneously among students aged 18-19 years in two Norwegian high schools (n = 342). At the first high school the intervention was behavior modification, at the second school a community-based attitude campaign was carried out. Baseline and posttest data on attitudes toward traffic safety and self-reported risk behavior were collected. The results showed that there was a significant total effect of the interventions although the effect depended on the type of intervention. There were significant differences in attitude and behavior only in the sample where the attitude campaign was carried out and no significant changes were found in the group of recipients of behavior modification.

If I Had Something to Add, I Would

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-96
Author(s):  
Isaac A. Lindquist ◽  
Emily E. Adams ◽  
Joseph A. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Job Attitudes ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Meeting Effectiveness ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Attitudes And Behavior

Abstract. Most employees participate in workplace meetings, and their experiences in meetings can vary greatly, which can lead to positive or negative effects on both job attitudes and behavior. In this study, we examined the effect that a meeting attendee’s competence in the meeting topic had on their participation in the meeting and their perception of meeting effectiveness. Results indicated those with higher levels of competence in the meeting topic were more likely to participate and through participation found their meeting more effective; this relationship was stronger when employee dissent in the meetings was high. Leaders should ensure that those who are present in a meeting are competent in the topic of the meeting and encourage them to participate.

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