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https://hdl.handle.net/10419/19936

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Divided government European style? Electoral and mechanical causes of European Parliament and Council divisions

Geteilte Regierung in Europa? Elektorale und mechanische Ursachen der Teilung von Europäischem Parlament und Rat
[working paper]

Manow, Philip
Döring, Holger

Corporate Editor
Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung

Abstract

"Regelmäßig scheinen Wähler Europawahlen dazu zu nutzen, ihre jeweilige nationale Regierung elektoral zu bestrafen. Viele Beobachter der Wahlen zum Europäischen Parlament gehen daher davon aus, dass die parteipolitische Ausrichtung des Parlaments systematisch von der des Ministerrats abweicht. Di... view more

"Regelmäßig scheinen Wähler Europawahlen dazu zu nutzen, ihre jeweilige nationale Regierung elektoral zu bestrafen. Viele Beobachter der Wahlen zum Europäischen Parlament gehen daher davon aus, dass die parteipolitische Ausrichtung des Parlaments systematisch von der des Ministerrats abweicht. Die vorliegende Analyse, die die parteipolitische Zusammensetzung dieser beiden zentralen europapolitischen Akteure empirisch vergleicht, zeigt, dass neben den elektoralen Ursachen auch andere Gründe für gegenläufi ge Mehrheiten zwischen Parlament und Rat verantwortlich sein können. Die Logik der Regierungsbildung auf nationalstaatlicher Ebene führt dazu, dass „zentristische“ und damit eher europafreundliche Parteien überproportional stark im Rat vertreten sind. In Europawahlen hingegen geben Wähler häufi g extremer positionierten, das heißt auch europaskeptischeren Parteien ihre Stimme. Die politische Distanz zwischen Rat und Parlament resultiert in der Pro/contra-EU-Dimension daher aus dem Zusammenwirken zweier, möglicherweise miteinander verbundener Effekte: elektoralen und „mechanischen“ Gründen für divided government in Europa. Das Papier diskutiert die Implikationen dieses Befundes für unser Verständnis von der Funktionsweise der EU und ihrer demokratischen Legitimation." [Autorenreferat]... view less


"Voters who participate in elections to the European Parliament tend to use these elections to punish their domestic governing parties. Many students of the EU therefore claim that the party-political composition of the Parliament should systematically differ from that of the Council. This study,... view more

"Voters who participate in elections to the European Parliament tend to use these elections to punish their domestic governing parties. Many students of the EU therefore claim that the party-political composition of the Parliament should systematically differ from that of the Council. This study, which compares empirically the party-political centers of gravity of these two central political actors, shows that opposed majorities between Council and Parliament may have other than simply electoral causes. The logic of domestic government formation works against the representation of politically more extreme parties, and hence against more EU-skeptic parties in the Council. At the same time, voters in EP elections vote more often for these more extreme and more EU-skeptic parties. The different locations of Council and Parliament in the pro-/contra-EU dimension may thus be caused by two – possibly interrelated – effects: a mechanical effect, due to the translation of votes into seats and then into ‘offi ce’, and thus also into Council representation, and an electoral effect in elections to the European Parliament. The paper discusses the implications of this fi nding for our understanding of the political system of the EU and of its democratic legitimacy." [author's abstract]... view less

Keywords
EU; EU policy; European Parliament; Council of Europe; election to the European Parliament; formation of a government; voting behavior; election result; democracy; legitimation

Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
European Politics

Method
descriptive study

Document language
English

Publication Year
2006

City
Köln

Page/Pages
22 p.

Series
MPIfG Discussion Paper, 8

Handle
https://hdl.handle.net/10419/19936

ISSN
1864-4325

Status
Published Version; reviewed

Licence
Deposit Licence - No Redistribution, No Modifications

Data providerThis metadata entry was indexed by the Special Subject Collection Social Sciences, USB Cologne


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© 2007 - 2025 Social Science Open Access Repository (SSOAR).
Based on DSpace, Copyright (c) 2002-2022, DuraSpace. All rights reserved.