The EU Party System after Eastern Enlargement. IHS Political Science Series: 2006, No. 105

From 1953 on, a party system of the European Union has been build up with, at the end, some 6 or 7 distinct and more or less cohesive parties acting in parliament and beyond. It has been said that this party system was “ready for power” during the 5th legislature of the directly elected European Parliament. In this article we ask whether and how Eastern enlargement has changed this state of affairs. The result of the empirical analysis is remarkably ambivalent: first, Eastern enlargement has increased the proportion of “homeless” MEPs, i.e. the non-aligned, and has at the same time added to the strength of the conservative majority of the house. Second, it did not significantly affect the format of the party system nor the stature of its political groups, neither their distinctiveness nor their cohesiveness. And third, the parties from the new Eastern member countries are not yet very well “rooted” in their national electorates. This is why the diagnosis of this early examination has to remain somewhat inconclusive – probably for some years to come

The EU Party System after Eastern Enlargement

From 1953 on, a party system of the European Union has been build up with, at the end,\ud some 6 or 7 distinct and more or less cohesive parties acting in parliament and beyond. It\ud has been said that this party system was “ready for power” during the 5th legislature of the\ud directly elected European Parliament. In this article we ask whether and how Eastern\ud enlargement has changed this state of affairs. The result of the empirical analysis is\ud remarkably ambivalent: first, Eastern enlargement has increased the proportion of\ud “homeless” MEPs, i.e. the non-aligned, and has at the same time added to the strength of\ud the conservative majority of the house. Second, it did not significantly affect the format of the\ud party system nor the stature of its political groups, neither their distinctiveness nor their\ud cohesiveness. And third, the parties from the new Eastern member countries are not yet very\ud well “rooted” in their national electorates. This is why the diagnosis of this early examination\ud has to remain somewhat inconclusive – probably for some years to come

Modes of Political Representation: Toward a New Typology

The mandate-independence controversy still features prominently in studies of political representation even though the problems with its theoretical foundation and empirical operationalization have long been recognized. This article proposes an alternative typology of modes of representation. By combining type of control (ex ante or ex post) with direction of the interactions (bottom-up or top-down), our study captures the most important aspects of the relationship between voters and representatives. We demonstrate how the typology can be used in a survey instrument by comparing the attitudes toward representation of Dutch members of Parliament with the attitudes held by voters, and by relating the views of the members to their behavior

The EU party system after eastern enlargement

'Seit 1953 hat sich ein Parteiensystem der Europäischen Union (EU) herausgebildet, das aus mittlerweile 6 bis 7 mehr oder weniger kohärenten Parteien besteht, die im Europäischen Parlament und darüber hinaus operieren. Manche Beobachter haben behauptet, dass dieses Parteiensystem in der 5. Legislaturperiode seit der Direktwahl des Europäischen Parlaments 'ready for power' gewesen sei. In diesem Paper wird der Frage nachgegangen, ob und wie die Osterweiterung diesen Stand der Dinge verändert hat. Das Resultat der empirischen Analyse ist auffallend ambivalent. Erstens hat die Osterweiterung den Anteil an 'heimatlosen' - d.h. nicht an Fraktionen gebundenen - Europaparlamentariern erhöht und gleichzeitig die konservative Mehrheit im Parlament gestärkt. Zweitens hat die Osterweiterung das Format des Parteiensystems und die Gestalt der Fraktionen nicht signifikant verändert - weder ihre Unterschiedlichkeit noch ihre Kohärenz. Und drittens sind die Parteien der neuen osteuropäischen Mitgliedsstaaten noch nicht richtig in den nationalen Wählerschaften verankert. Zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt lassen sich daher noch keine eindeutigen Schlussfolgerungen über die Auswirkungen der Osterweiterung auf das EU-Parteiensystem ziehen.' (Autorenreferat)'From 1953 on, a party system of the European Union has been build up with, at the end, some 6 or 7 distinct and more or less cohesive parties acting in parliament and beyond. It has been said that this party system was 'ready for power' during the 5th legislature of the directly elected European Parliament. In this article we ask whether and how Eastern enlargement has changed this state of affairs. The result of the empirical analysis is remarkably ambivalent: first, Eastern enlargement has increased the proportion of 'homeless' MEPs, i.e. the non-aligned, and has at the same time added to the strength of the conservative majority of the house. Second, it did not significantly affect the format of the party system nor the stature of its political groups, neither their distinctiveness nor their cohesiveness. And third, the parties from the new Eastern member countries are not yet very well 'rooted' in their national electorates. This is why the diagnosis of this early examination has to remain somewhat inconclusive - probably for some years to come.' (author's abstract)

Democratie doorgelicht : het functioneren van de Nederlandse democratie

In Democratie doorgelicht – Het functioneren van de Nederlandse democratie legt een vijftigtal politicologen en bestuurskundigen het huidige Nederlandse politieke bestel langs democratische meetlat. Kernvraag van deze unieke gezamenlijke onderneming is of de Nederlandse democratie nog wel naar behoren functioneert. Velen hebben grote zorgen over bestuurlijke integriteit en een kloof tussen kiezers en gekozenen. Wat is eigenlijk het bestaansrecht van al die politieke partijen? Hoe zit het met de opkomst van populisme en de rol van de media hierbij? En wat betekent dit alles in het licht van naar Brussel weglekkende bevoegdheden zonder dat daarop controle lijkt te bestaan? Los van eigen politieke voorkeuren, zonder opgeheven vinger en zonder overbodig vakjargon vormt deze eerste democratic audit een standaardwerk over de belangrijkste aspecten van onze democratie.9789400600010 (ebook)Wetensch. publicati