Two patterns of opposition: Party Group Interaction in the Bavarian State Parliament

Most research on parliamentary opposition focuses on constitutional and institutional aspects. This article argues that these approaches are limited in explaining differences between opposition parties. A case study of the Bavarian State Parliament, shows that there is support for the assumption that complex patterns of a number of factors, such as individual party groups’ ideology, history, their members’ socio-demographic background, and their informal rules of engagement, influence the way opposition parties behave. The study shows distinctive differences between the appearance and the strategies employed to influence the majority’s decision-making. The Social Democrats, a traditional mass party with over 40 years in opposition, focused on a strategy of professional, subject-oriented co-operation within parliament. The Greens chose confrontational power policies that had their main effect outside parliament. This stands in line with the party’s origin in grassroots movements and its culture of conflict resolution. Those findings raise the question of how party identities and policies coincide with the preference of one opposition strategy over another and they contribute to the discussion of how parliamentary behaviour and representative roles are interwoven

Does Devolution make a difference? A comparison of party-group interaction in the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly.

Significant research has been dedicated to the question what roles members of parliament play within an assembly and how they shape them individually. (e.g. Searing 1994, Patzelt 1995, 1997, Müller et al 2001). Findings show that some differences in parliamentarians’ roles and behaviour are tied to the party’s status in parliament. However, most of the analyses in this field (exception: Müller et al 2001) do not consider how these characteristics are linked with the overall appearance of particular parliamentary party groups (PPGs) and their political strategies. Research conducted on the Bavarian Parliament (Steinack 2007 a, b) shows significant differences in PPGs’ strategies that relate to the MPs’ socio-demographic background and the party groups’ history and discussion culture. Based on preliminary results of an ongoing research project, the paper outlines how structural differences between parliamentary party groups in the devolved assemblies in Scotland and Wales shape strategies and political styles of their representatives. Interviews with members and clerks of the assemblies illustrate the findings

The socio-cultural foundation of opposition strategies in parliament

Parliamentary opposition plays a central role within a functioning representative democracy. However, research on it seems to lack theoretical progression and outlook. Attempts to develop Dahl’s (1966) initial theoretical work further are scarce; most recent works by Blondel (1997), and Helms (2004) share Dahl’s approach of referring exclusively to constitutional and institutional aspects of opposition, determined by a countries political, party and electoral system. I will argue on the basis of own research that there is need to add another dimension which considers individual parties’ ideology, history, the party group members’ socio-economic background, their informal rules of engagement etc., as well as more recent theories on agenda-setting (Döring 2005) and veto-player rights (Tsebelis 1995). My research on opposition parties in the Bavarian State parliament (Steinack 2006, 2007) shows contrasting behaviour patterns of the different party groups: While the Social Democrats focused on a strategy of matter-of-fact cooperation and in some controversial legislative cases sought to intermediate, the Green party group chose confrontational power politics which had their main effect outside of parliament. Those significant differences raise the question to what extent party identities and policies coincide with the preference of one opposition strategy over another

Opposition im Bayerischen Landtag 1994-1998.

I analysed opposition strategies and patterns of the Parliamentary Party Groups (PPGs) of Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green Party in the Bavarian State Parliament within the 13th congressional term (1994-1998). While the German National Parliament (Bundestag) and other German state parliaments use to produce changing governments run by coalition parties, the situation in Bavaria is defined by the hegemony of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been governing the state without the need to build a coalition since 1962. Exploring the Bavarian State Parliament was especially promising since it shows an extreme, maybe even desperate, case of opposition which seemed prone to question common findings on how opposition can influence the political majority’s politics. In detail I analysed to what extent the opposition PPGs can influence the parliamentary majority’s politics and questioned if there are differences in the parliamentary behaviour and actions of the two opposition PPGs which could be connected to party-typical attributes. To measure the kind and the grade of political influence politicians and parties have upon each other I worked with a multidimensional approach, combining quantitative and qualitative methods of research. My working hypothesises were generated in a multi-level procedure. Apart from 21 expert interviews (guided by central questions) with members of all PPGs I examined nine legislative procedures in detail and analysed all other parliamentary actions within the congressional term. Additional sources of information were the socio-demographic analysis of the 13th Bavarian State Parliament’s members, the archives of pressure groups involved in some of the legislative procedures and the media’s reports on the parliament and its politics throughout the period in question. The results of my research showed that the opposition parties’ strategies, in order to influence the CSU faction and the Bavarian State Government ran along two main lines situated on different levels of publicity: • a strategy of matter-of-factly cooperation focused on committee meetings and private discussions inside parliament • a strategy of confrontational power politics focused outside parliament with involvement of the media and the public Applying those strategies both parties were successful in influencing the majority’s decision making, proving that – despite of it’s long hegemonic tradition – Bavaria isn’t a special case if it comes to parliamentary decision making. Distinctive features in the opposition PPGs’ appearance and the strategies they choose in order to gain influence reflect significant profiles of party politics. The Social Democrats focused on a strategy of matter-of-factly cooperation and sought to intermediate in some controversial legislative cases. In contrast, the Greens chose confrontational power politics with a high engagement of the media which had their main effect outside parliament

Cost-effectiveness analysis of surgical lung volume reduction compared with endobronchial valve treatment in patients with severe emphysema

BACKGROUND Lung volume reduction, either by surgery or bronchoscopically by endobronchial valve treatment have been shown to be a cost-effective alternative compared with conservative therapy. However, there is no comparative analysis of lung volume reduction by surgery and bronchoscopic lung volume reduction using endobronchial valves. OBJECTIVES The aim of this retrospective study was to provide a cost-effectiveness analysis of lung volume reduction by surgery compared with bronchoscopic lung volume reduction using endobronchial valves. METHODS The effectiveness of lung volume reduction was assessed using forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), residual volume (RV) and 6-minute walking distance (6MWD), measured at baseline and at 4 to 12 weeks. Cost unit accounting derived from SwissDRG was used as a surrogate of the costs from the payer's perspective. RESULTS In total, 67 patients (37 men and 30 women) with a mean age of 68.3 ± 7.4 years were included. Both clinical effectiveness and costs were comparable between surgical and bronchoscopic lung reduction. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) for bronchoscopic compared with lung volume reduction by surgery for FEV1, RV and 6MWD were -101, 4 and 58, respectively. For RV and 6MWD, it could be shown that endobronchial valve treatment is justified as a probably cost-effective alternative to lung volume reduction by surgery. Endobronchial valve treatment resulted in an improvement of 0.25 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and an ICER of € 7657 per QALY gained. CONCLUSION A robust statement on the superiority of one of the two procedures in terms of cost-effectiveness cannot be made from the present study. Therefore, the study is not suitable for resource allocation. Two upcoming trials comparing lung volume reduction surgery and endobronchial valve treatment may be able to answer this question

Auf verlorenem Posten? Eine Untersuchung zu Einflussmöglichkeiten der Opposition im Bayerischen Landtag

The opposition role of Social Democrats (SPD) and the Green Party in the Bavarian State Parliament is defined by the hegemony of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been governing the state for many decades. Both opposition parties use several strategies, situated on different levels of publicity, in order to influence the CSU faction and the Bavarian State Government. Distinctive features in their parliamentary appearance and the strategies they choose in order to gain influences reflect significant profiles of party politics. While Social Democats focused on a strategy of matter-of-factly cooperation and in some controversial legislative cases sought to intermediate, the Green party group chose confrontational power politics which had their main effect outside of parliament. Central pillars of the analysis, which focuses on the 13th congressional term (1994-1998), are 21 expert interviews (guided by central questions) with members of all party groups and a detailed examination of nine (out of 181) legislative procedures (involving motions, committee and parliamentary debates)

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