Two houses: legislative studies and the Atlantic divide

Legislative scholars have a history of stepping back occasionally to examine the development and state of the sub-discipline (Budge 1973; Gamm and Huber 2002; Loewenberg, Patterson, and Jewell 1985; Mezey 1993; Morris-Jones 1983; Pasquino 1973; Patterson 1989). Many of these existing reviews, although valuable, are predominantly of a qualitative and subjective nature and are, in most cases, now dated. This paper provides a bibliometrical analysis of the state of legislative studies in the United States and Europe by exploring the content of eight political science journals. I looked at six general political science journals, three originating in the United States and three in Europe, as well as the content of two legislative studies journals—the American-based Legislative Studies Quarterly and the British-based Journal of Legislative Studies

The internet as a relationship marketing tool - some evidence from Irish companies

This article explores the strategies underlying the use of the internet as a marketing tool by Irish businesses. Three different approaches to internet Marketing are described: the ornamental, the informational and the relational. It is shown that, theoretically, the internet offers a unique opportunity for marketers to build up and maintain relationships with their clients. However, data collected through a mail survey and a content analysis of web sites reveal that currently the most frequent use of the internet by Irish companies still follows an ornamental or, at most, informational pattern. The authors discuss whether this discrepancy between internet potential and practice is due to the social basis of market relationships or whether it can be seen as evidence that the adaptation of a new marketing tool follows an incremental pattern

The parliamentary representation of British Muslims

Parliamentary parties in the British House of Commons tend to experience high levels of voting unity with individual MPs only occasionally dissenting from party policy. Although constituency influence has been used extensively to predict legislative behaviour in candidate-centred electoral environments, it is argued here that constituency preferences can, under certain circumstances, shape parliamentary behaviour in a strong-party, weak personal-vote, electoral environment such as the United Kingdom. To empirically test this argument, the interest representation of British Muslims in the British House of Commons and specifically the voting record of MPs on proposed domestic anti-terrorism legislation seen to target British Muslims is investigated. The data shows that Labour MPs with certain constituency characteristics (relatively large Muslim, ethnic minority and migrant populations) were more likely to vote against the leadership position on anti-terrorism proposals perceived to target certain minorities

Using parliamentary questions to measure constituency orientation

Individual legislators differ in the degree to which they work to cultivate personal votes. While conventional wisdom declares that the electoral system typically motivates the choice of legislative role, researchers have found difficulty assessing empirically the role-orientation of legislators. This study suggests using content analysis of parliamentary questions as a mechanism to measure variations in personal vote earning strategies. To demonstrate the usefulness of this approach, and the constituency-orientation of Irish parliamentarians, 123,762 questions tabled by Dáil Deputies between 1997 and 2002 are analysed. While evidence of some orientation toward localism is apparent, the data suggests significant variations in role-orientation within the chamber. Explanations of intra-system variation in personal vote earning effort are hypothesised and tested. Characteristics such as electoral vulnerability, geography, intra-party competition and career only partially explain the variation. The results highlight the need to move beyond using electoral rules as a general proxy for role-orientation

Why electoral systems don’t always matter: The impact of “Mega-seats” on legislative behavior

A significant and influential body of research suggests that electoral systems influence legislators’ behavior. Yet, empirical research frequently fails to uncover the existence of such a relationship. This study offers a potential solution: The core suggestion is that the mechanisms by which prized post-election positions (mega-seats) are distributed within a legislature impacts legislative behavior. When party leaders cartelize the allocation of mega-seats, the anticipated effects of the electoral system on legislators’ behavior may dissolve. Ireland’s candidate-centered electoral system and party-controlled mega-seat allocation provides for a hard empirical test of the argument. New data on mega-seats and voting behavior in the Irish parliament between 1980 and 2010 supports the notion that mega-seat considerations rather than the electoral system shapes roll-call behavior. The implication is that what goes on within the legislature may be more important for influencing legislators’ behavior than what goes on at the ballot box. This observation may resolve the puzzle of why electoral systems do not always exert their purported influence

The speaker of parliament: a rational choice account

The office of Speaker has generally been seen as having an almost accidental origin (in the British House of Commons) and non-deliberate design and development. Save for the simple dichotomy made between the US-style Speaker and the British Speakership, little detailed analysis of this office has been undertaken. This work looks at the office form the perspective of rational choice new institutionalism. Our empirical focus is on the Irish Speaker (Ceann Comhairle). Having justified the new institutionalist approach, we develop a rational choice account of the office From this account we then postulate a series of empirically testable hypotheses. Using data collected from parliamentary records and other sources, it is shown that, far from being a neutral arbiter, the presiding officer is an asset of the governing parties. The research explores many issues at the core of legislative politics including the motivation of political actors, the origin and development of institutional arrangements and the consequences of particular institutional types. As such, the research provides novel and empirically tested arguments that challenge much of the conventional wisdom regarding both political actors in the legislative arena and the paradigms used to understand the

Discipline in Irish parliamentary parties

The level and nature of discipline in modern political parties remain two of the most fascinating aspects of politics. This study provides a review of the literature on the role of political parties and the perceived need for some form of collective action within parliament. A survey of work on party discipline in other countries is also provided, followed by a closer examination of what is meant by ‘discipline’ . We explore the level of cohesion and discipline in Irish parties. The organisation of Irish parties and the development of the whip system is examined along with other influences on the behaviour of TDs, such as the electoral system and Irish political culture. A systematic account and analysis of cases of indiscipline between 1969 and 1997 is provided and analysed. The work concludes with a social-psychological explanation of TDs behaviour which is tested using available empirical evidence and a laboratory experiment. The thesis argues that the high levels of discipline among members of Irish parliamentary parties is best explained by reference to rational choice theories of political behaviour

The Cold and Hot Gas Content of Fine-Structure E and S0 Galaxies

We investigate trends of the cold and hot gas content of early-type galaxies with the presence of optical morphological peculiarities, as measured by the fine-structure index (Sigma). HI mapping observations from the literature are used to track the cold-gas content, and archival ROSAT PSPC data are used to quantify the hot-gas content. We find that E and S0 galaxies with a high incidence of optical peculiarities are exclusively X-ray underluminous and, therefore, deficient in hot gas. In contrast, more relaxed galaxies with little or no signs of optical peculiarities span a wide range of X-ray luminosities. That is, the X-ray excess anticorrelates with Sigma. There appears to be no similar trend of cold-gas content with either fine-structure index or X-ray content. The fact that only apparently relaxed E and S0 galaxies are strong X-ray emitters is consistent with the hypothesis that after strong disturbances such as a merger hot-gas halos build up over a time scale of several gigayears. This is consistent with the expected mass loss from stars.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A