Parliament centered or constituency centered? The professionalization of the parliamentary mandate

The question of the professionalization of the parliamentary mandate has long been debated in the literature. Rather than offering a theoretical approach, this chapter puts into perspective the process of professionalization of French and German MPs. It deals with the indicators of this process: developments in remuneration and equipment of the mandate; educational and professional background; self-perception as a professional. Moreover, the way the MPs pursue their careers, work in their district and manage an important workload are documented and analyzed. Altogether these different aspects illustrate the process of professionalization at work among the members of the German Bundestag and the French Assemblée nationale. At the same time, despite this common trend, it is also possible to distinguish between two patterns of professionalization, the German one being “parliament centered” whereas the French one is “constituency centered”

Substance or behavior as links? Explaining representational judgments

This chapter follows a subjective approach for evaluating representation and examines “citizens’ feeling of being represented” by the national parliament and their representatives. The authors examine this subject in two ways. The first explanatory approach emphasizes the relevance of substantive representation. In short, the more positively citizens perceive themselves to be represented concerning their values, issue preferences or their concerns as a member of a social group, the more positively they will evaluate the institutions and actors of the representational process. The second approach focuses on the behavior of representatives. It predicts representational judgments based on perceptions of MPs’ behavior. The results show that both explanatory approaches are relevant in explaining citizens’ representational judgments, but also suggest that perceptions of substantive representation are slightly more important than perceptions of MPs’ behavior