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2002:09 Parties in the Parliament. Why, When and How do Parties act in Unity? |
Lukáš Linek, Petra Rakušanová |
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The main objective of the work is to answer the question of how Czech MPs and PPGs make decisions. Thus main concerns of the authors are issues of PPG unity, the adopted mechanisms of internal control and negotiation and, primarily, the factors that influence, structure and restrict the behaviour of individual MPs and PPGs. The work focuses on the 3rd electoral term of the Chamber of Deputies (1998-2002); in some cases a comparison with previous terms is provided.
In the first chapter the authors briefly outline the frameworks they use to conceptualise PPGs: the institutional rules and party hierarchy. Throughout the entire text they understand the shape of PPGs or the unity of PPGs to be a dependent variable. Chapters 2 and 3 present and explain the influence of independent variables. In Chapter 2, the basic institutional rules and framework for the behaviour of PPGs in the Czech Republic are examined in detail; the issues under focus include the relationship between the Chamber of Deputies and the cabinet, the electoral system, the nature of the mandate and the rules for establishing PPGs. In Chapter 3 PPGs are placed within the structure of the political party and the relationships between individual party levels - MPs constituting the PPGs: the party in the government, the party in the central office, and the party on the ground analysed. In Chapter 4 examines one of the basic activities of MPs and PPGs: voting in plenary sessions. Thus the unity of PPGs, and MPs' decision-making are explored. In the end, the authors attempt to answer the question of what the main factors influencing the unity of Czech PPGs are.
Summary
The main objective of the work is to answer the question of how Czech MPs and PPGs make decisions. Thus main concerns of the authors are issues of PPG unity, the adopted mechanisms of internal control and negotiation and, primarily, the factors that influence, structure and restrict the behaviour of individual MPs and PPGs. The work focuses on the 3rd electoral term of the Chamber of Deputies (1998-2002); in some cases a comparison with previous terms is provided.
In the first chapter the authors briefly outline the frameworks they use to conceptualise PPGs: the institutional rules and party hierarchy. In Chapter 2, the basic institutional rules and framework for the behaviour of PPGs in the Czech Republic are examined in detail; the issues under focus include the relationship between the Chamber of Deputies and the cabinet, the electoral system, the nature of the mandate and the rules for establishing PPGs. In Chapter 3 PPGs are placed within the structure of the political party and the relationships between individual party levels - MPs constituting the PPGs: the party in the government, the party in the central office, and the party on the ground analysed. In Chapter 4 examines one of the basic activities of MPs and PPGs: voting in plenary sessions. Thus the unity of PPGs, and MPs' decision-making are explored.
Unity of Czech PPGs was counted on the basis of the Rice's Index and the aggregate figures for the surveyed parties are: ČSSD 82.5, KDU-ČSL 87.4, KSČM 83.3, ODS 79.4 a US-DEU 80.0. These numbers are counted for the all votes at the plenary sessions. For a detailed analysis there were selected only three sessions of the Chamber of Deputies and only those votes that were important for the creation of laws (rejection of a bill of an act, an amendment to a bill of an act, a bill as a whole). The unity of PPGs in these selected votes increased by average of six degrees (from 80.7 to 87.0). Even though, the unity of Czech PPGs was lower when comparing with those of PPGs in western European countries.
The low figures were striking if the institutional drive toward unity and the number of tools to enforce discipline among Czech MPs; moreover, these tools are not dramatically different from the tools available to parties in Western Europe as shown in Chapters 2 and 3. The authors found the reasons for lower unity of PPGs in the size of voting majorities for several Western studies draw attention to the effect of the size of ruling majorities on the unity of PPGs. Only in 15% of the cases were the voting majorities evenly balanced (102:98). In the rest of the cases the majorities were so persuasive (no less than 113:87) that, in order to pass the bill, it was not necessary to enforce absolute party discipline among MPs. It may be the case that parties prefered the existence of large majorities as a consequence of the fact that such votes have lower transaction costs than approvals of bills by narrow margins.
Key words
parliamentary party groups - Chamber of Deputies - Czech political parties - party unity - voting behaviour - decision-making process
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Parties in the Parliament. Why, When and How do Parties act in Unity? |
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