Anna-Lena Högenauer
Biographic Data
| ID | 4378291 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Anna-Lena Högenauer |
| GIVEN NAMES | Anna-Lena |
| FAMILY NAME | Högenauer |
| SIGNATURE | HÖGENAUER A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Luxembourg |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1602-7238 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 26 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 157 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 26 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Maastricht Overcome: An Evolving Disconnect Between the ECB’s Power and Independence
In the course of the last two decades, the legitimacy of the European Central Bank (ECB) has withered as monetary policy has become more politicized. This editorial places these debates in the context of the literature on central bank independence. Many critical voices warned—long before the crisis—that the ideal of highly independent central banks with narrow technocratic mandates would not work in the long term and would come under particular p…
Understanding the Role of Political Staff and Parliamentary Administrations
The staff working in parliaments represent a highly relevant, yet significantly understudied group of actors. While political scientists have sought to understand the activities of elected representatives in parliaments, the role of the administration and political staff is understudied. However, the sparse case studies that exist underscore the key role played by political staff in brokering information, advising, preparing and exercising legisl…
The ECB’s Evolving Mandate and High Independence: An Undemocratic Mix
After over a decade of crisis, the ECB’s functions have expanded considerably. The ECB’s activities during the eurozone crisis, new debates on the ECB’s role in supporting political goals like the fight against climate change, and its participation in geopolitical stand-offs have overcome the fiction of a technocratic role that can be allocated to an independent institution with few constraints to democracy. We highlight how the ECB’s mandate has…
From Advisor to Interparliamentary Networker: A Typology of Parliamentary Officials in EU Affairs
Parliamentary staff in European affairs is a relatively young field of study. However, a solid understanding of the role these staff members play is important for grasping the political capacity of parliaments. Whether parliaments can exercise their powers effectively depends on their ability to collect and process information, and officials can play a key role in this context. This also holds true within the European arena. Both the European Par…
Who’s Got MPs’ Back? Understanding the Drivers of Specialisation in the Offices of MPs
Being an elected MP comes with numerous time‐consuming and work‐intensive tasks that exceed the capacity of a single individual. While not universal, in many parliamentary democracies, MPs receive funds to employ personal staff, who take on substantial portions of this workload by advising and supporting MPs in their daily political activities. Although the role of parliamentary administrations has received growing scholarly attention, the questi…
Can the European Parliament be a stepping stone into national politics? The gendered career paths of Maltese and Luxembourgish members of the European Parliament
The representation of women in the European Parliament tends to be higher than in many national parliaments. Therefore, this article examines to what extent experience as a Member of the European Parliament could serve as a stepping stone into national politics. It focuses on Luxembourg and Malta as two typical cases of small states with preferential voting systems with an incumbency bias. It first identifies the challenges women face, then analy…
Introduction to the special issue: The persistent challenges to European Banking Union
The papers of this special issue investigate the persistent challenges to European Banking Union and explore the tensions between broader financial stability objectives and national political and socio-economic pressures through a diversity of lenses. In this introduction, we examine two main issues that need to be addressed in order to strengthen Banking Union: the incomplete institutional design of Banking Union and the difficulties encountered…
The ECB as a banking supervisor: Transparent compared to what
After over a decade of crisis, the ECB’s functions have expanded considerably, which in turn altered its relationship with other institutions. In particular, when the ECB assumed the role of Banking Supervisor under the Single Supervisory Mechanisms, it was generally accepted that this role would require more accountability than its traditional role in monetary policy. Yet, accountability requires transparency. However, there is a dearth of studi…
Scrutiny or Complacency? Banking Union in the Bundestag and the Assemblée Nationale
The financial and eurozone crises highlighted the inadequacy of the original governance structures of the eurozone. In response, a range of reforms were launched, including the creation of a European banking union. In practice, some elements of the banking union were delayed by division among member states and the breakdown of the Franco-German motor, such as the question of the operationalization of the single resolution mechanism and fund or th…
Reforming the Institutions of Eurozone Governance
The Eurozone has faced repeated crises and has experienced profound transformations in the past years. This thematic issue seeks to address the questions arising from the changing governance structure of the Eurozone. First, how have the negotiations, pressures of the crises and reforms impacted the relationships between key actors like EU institutions and Member States? Second, where did national positions come from and what role did domestic po…
The mainstreaming of EU affairs: A Challenge for Parliamentary Administrations
Past research has identified a trend towards the bureaucratisation of the parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs. It highlighted the role of parliamentary staff in selecting relevant issues, advising on subsidiarity and procedures and drafting of opinions and resolutions. However, while administrators clearly play a role, less is known about the Europeanisation of parliamentary administrations. In particular, the impact of the growing Europeanisati…
The Politicisation of the European Central Bank and the Bundestag
The European Central Bank (ECB) became one of the key actors during the Eurozone crisis. However, its prominent role was not without controversy. On one hand, the Eurozone was stabilised, no member state defaulted, and no state had to leave the Euro. On the other hand, the ECB had to stretch its mandate, expand its policy remit, and adopt so-called ‘unconventional’ monetary policies. These attempts to depoliticise political challenges through a t…
The parliamentary scrutiny of euro area national central banks
European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) involves several core principles for the organization of participating national central banks (NCBs/CBs), including their independence from political institutions. Early studies show that the level of national parliamentary scrutiny over euro area NCBs varied (Lepper and Sterne 2002). In this context, our article examines the extent to which parliaments make use of four distinct control mechanisms to hol…
The European Parliament in Times of Crisis: Transnationalism under Pressure
In 2015, the intensification of the migration crisis has exposed the European Union to a highly politicized policy problem that was subject to radically different national approaches. In the past, the literature has tended to present the European Parliament as a highly supranational institution, where formal procedures and informal practices have encouraged the emergence of transnational party groups over time. However, while these groups are now…
Regional parliaments questioning EU affairs
Since the Treaty of Lisbon, the desire of parliaments to adapt to their new powers has led to a new wave of Europeanisation. However, the early warning system (EWS) and the political dialogue with the Commission constitute only a small part of parliamentary scrutiny for regional parliaments, which still largely rely on traditional tools such as mandates, debates and questions. Therefore, this paper studies a traditional mechanism of scrutiny, par…
Regional parliaments in the EU multilevel parliamentary system
European integration has created a multilevel political system that is dominated by executive actors. Despite the increasing competences of the European Parliament, a growing EU-awareness of national assemblies and an emerging attention of regional parliaments for EU affairs, the EU polity still lacks a sound parliamentary representation. As the EU presents itself as a representative democracy, the current set-up raises questions from the perspec…
Conclusion: Regional parliaments – a distinct role in the EU
Regional parliaments can shape EU policy-making via a range of domestic and European channels. In the context of a renewed interest in the subnational level, this article aims to address three core questions: have regional parliaments really been empowered by the early warning system provisions? Which factors explain differences in strength and mobilisation? Finally, what kind of a role do regional parliaments play in EU policy-making today, now …
Luxembourg's EU Council Presidency: Adapting Routines to New Circumstances
An information network of officials? Dissecting the role and nature of the network of parliamentary representatives in the European Parliament
Enhancing the role of national parliaments in the European Union's decision-making process has for some time been a popular way in which policy-makers have sought to address legitimacy problems in the European Union, the Early Warning Mechanism being only one example. In response to these developments, an increasing number of scholars have addressed the question of how parliaments make use of these powers in practice. An important dimension of th…
Research Note: Studying a new phase of europeanisation of national parliaments
In this research note, we propose studying a new trend of Europeanisation in national parliaments within the European Union (EU). We argue that further integration, combined with the opportunities and challenges presented by the Lisbon Treaty and the financial crisis, created pressure on national parliaments to expand the scrutiny process beyond European Affairs Committees. In this new phase of Europeanisation, parliaments are increasingly ‘mains…
National Parliaments after Lisbon: Administrations on the Rise
In the wake of the lisbon treaty, much of the academic debate on national parliaments in the eu has focused on the new powers of national parliaments and the potential for the politicisation and parliamentarisation of the eu. In the process, the role of administrators in the parliamentary control of eu affairs has been neglected. This article addresses that gap by comparing parliamentary administrations to a set of ideal types on the basis of in-…
The Limits of Territorial Interest Representation in the European Union
According to the literature on lobbying, actors gain access to European policy-making in return for information and expertise. It is often assumed that territorial actors will be in a position to provide such information by virtue of being the implementing authorities. By contrast, this article argues that there is a need to examine further to what extent regions are able to use channels of interest representation and to supply information, what …
Formal Rules and Informal Cooperation: Inter-governmental Relations in Domestic European Policy Making in Comparative Perspective
One of the key elements of the strategies of interest representation of strong legislative regions in EU policy making is active participation in the co-ordination processes within the member state. This article argues that Europeanization of inter-governmental relations leads to a greater emphasis on cooperation in the formal rules on inter-governmental cooperation in EU affairs. However, when informal practices are taken into account, some memb…
All by themselves? Legislative regions and the use of unmediated access to the European level
Since the 1980s, the level of activism of regions in European Union policy-making has greatly increased, leading to the emergence of claims that regional governments can and do bypass national government in European negotiations. However, two decades after the emergence of the concept, the debate about the ability of regions to engage successfully in this process of continuous negotiation and to represent their interests on the European stage is …
National Parliaments in the post-Lisbon European Union: Bureaucratization rather than Democratization
National Parliaments after Lisbon: Administrations on the Rise
In the wake of the lisbon treaty, much of the academic debate on national parliaments in the eu has focused on the new powers of national parliaments and the potential for the politicisation and parliamentarisation of the eu. In the process, the role of administrators in the parliamentary control of eu affairs has been neglected. This article addresses that gap by comparing parliamentary administrations to a set of ideal types on the basis of in-…
National Parliaments in the post-Lisbon European Union: Bureaucratization rather than Democratization
Regional parliaments in the EU multilevel parliamentary system
European integration has created a multilevel political system that is dominated by executive actors. Despite the increasing competences of the European Parliament, a growing EU-awareness of national assemblies and an emerging attention of regional parliaments for EU affairs, the EU polity still lacks a sound parliamentary representation. As the EU presents itself as a representative democracy, the current set-up raises questions from the perspec…
An information network of officials? Dissecting the role and nature of the network of parliamentary representatives in the European Parliament
Enhancing the role of national parliaments in the European Union's decision-making process has for some time been a popular way in which policy-makers have sought to address legitimacy problems in the European Union, the Early Warning Mechanism being only one example. In response to these developments, an increasing number of scholars have addressed the question of how parliaments make use of these powers in practice. An important dimension of th…
Research Note: Studying a new phase of europeanisation of national parliaments
In this research note, we propose studying a new trend of Europeanisation in national parliaments within the European Union (EU). We argue that further integration, combined with the opportunities and challenges presented by the Lisbon Treaty and the financial crisis, created pressure on national parliaments to expand the scrutiny process beyond European Affairs Committees. In this new phase of Europeanisation, parliaments are increasingly ‘mains…
All by themselves? Legislative regions and the use of unmediated access to the European level
Since the 1980s, the level of activism of regions in European Union policy-making has greatly increased, leading to the emergence of claims that regional governments can and do bypass national government in European negotiations. However, two decades after the emergence of the concept, the debate about the ability of regions to engage successfully in this process of continuous negotiation and to represent their interests on the European stage is …
The mainstreaming of EU affairs: A Challenge for Parliamentary Administrations
Past research has identified a trend towards the bureaucratisation of the parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs. It highlighted the role of parliamentary staff in selecting relevant issues, advising on subsidiarity and procedures and drafting of opinions and resolutions. However, while administrators clearly play a role, less is known about the Europeanisation of parliamentary administrations. In particular, the impact of the growing Europeanisati…
The parliamentary scrutiny of euro area national central banks
European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) involves several core principles for the organization of participating national central banks (NCBs/CBs), including their independence from political institutions. Early studies show that the level of national parliamentary scrutiny over euro area NCBs varied (Lepper and Sterne 2002). In this context, our article examines the extent to which parliaments make use of four distinct control mechanisms to hol…
The Limits of Territorial Interest Representation in the European Union
According to the literature on lobbying, actors gain access to European policy-making in return for information and expertise. It is often assumed that territorial actors will be in a position to provide such information by virtue of being the implementing authorities. By contrast, this article argues that there is a need to examine further to what extent regions are able to use channels of interest representation and to supply information, what …
Regional parliaments questioning EU affairs
Since the Treaty of Lisbon, the desire of parliaments to adapt to their new powers has led to a new wave of Europeanisation. However, the early warning system (EWS) and the political dialogue with the Commission constitute only a small part of parliamentary scrutiny for regional parliaments, which still largely rely on traditional tools such as mandates, debates and questions. Therefore, this paper studies a traditional mechanism of scrutiny, par…
Can the European Parliament be a stepping stone into national politics? The gendered career paths of Maltese and Luxembourgish members of the European Parliament
The representation of women in the European Parliament tends to be higher than in many national parliaments. Therefore, this article examines to what extent experience as a Member of the European Parliament could serve as a stepping stone into national politics. It focuses on Luxembourg and Malta as two typical cases of small states with preferential voting systems with an incumbency bias. It first identifies the challenges women face, then analy…
Introduction to the special issue: The persistent challenges to European Banking Union
The papers of this special issue investigate the persistent challenges to European Banking Union and explore the tensions between broader financial stability objectives and national political and socio-economic pressures through a diversity of lenses. In this introduction, we examine two main issues that need to be addressed in order to strengthen Banking Union: the incomplete institutional design of Banking Union and the difficulties encountered…
The ECB as a banking supervisor: Transparent compared to what
After over a decade of crisis, the ECB’s functions have expanded considerably, which in turn altered its relationship with other institutions. In particular, when the ECB assumed the role of Banking Supervisor under the Single Supervisory Mechanisms, it was generally accepted that this role would require more accountability than its traditional role in monetary policy. Yet, accountability requires transparency. However, there is a dearth of studi…
The Politicisation of the European Central Bank and the Bundestag
The European Central Bank (ECB) became one of the key actors during the Eurozone crisis. However, its prominent role was not without controversy. On one hand, the Eurozone was stabilised, no member state defaulted, and no state had to leave the Euro. On the other hand, the ECB had to stretch its mandate, expand its policy remit, and adopt so-called ‘unconventional’ monetary policies. These attempts to depoliticise political challenges through a t…
Conclusion: Regional parliaments – a distinct role in the EU
Regional parliaments can shape EU policy-making via a range of domestic and European channels. In the context of a renewed interest in the subnational level, this article aims to address three core questions: have regional parliaments really been empowered by the early warning system provisions? Which factors explain differences in strength and mobilisation? Finally, what kind of a role do regional parliaments play in EU policy-making today, now …
The European Parliament in Times of Crisis: Transnationalism under Pressure
In 2015, the intensification of the migration crisis has exposed the European Union to a highly politicized policy problem that was subject to radically different national approaches. In the past, the literature has tended to present the European Parliament as a highly supranational institution, where formal procedures and informal practices have encouraged the emergence of transnational party groups over time. However, while these groups are now…
Luxembourg's EU Council Presidency: Adapting Routines to New Circumstances
From Advisor to Interparliamentary Networker: A Typology of Parliamentary Officials in EU Affairs
Parliamentary staff in European affairs is a relatively young field of study. However, a solid understanding of the role these staff members play is important for grasping the political capacity of parliaments. Whether parliaments can exercise their powers effectively depends on their ability to collect and process information, and officials can play a key role in this context. This also holds true within the European arena. Both the European Par…
Who’s Got MPs’ Back? Understanding the Drivers of Specialisation in the Offices of MPs
Being an elected MP comes with numerous time‐consuming and work‐intensive tasks that exceed the capacity of a single individual. While not universal, in many parliamentary democracies, MPs receive funds to employ personal staff, who take on substantial portions of this workload by advising and supporting MPs in their daily political activities. Although the role of parliamentary administrations has received growing scholarly attention, the questi…
Scrutiny or Complacency? Banking Union in the Bundestag and the Assemblée Nationale
The financial and eurozone crises highlighted the inadequacy of the original governance structures of the eurozone. In response, a range of reforms were launched, including the creation of a European banking union. In practice, some elements of the banking union were delayed by division among member states and the breakdown of the Franco-German motor, such as the question of the operationalization of the single resolution mechanism and fund or th…
Reforming the Institutions of Eurozone Governance
The Eurozone has faced repeated crises and has experienced profound transformations in the past years. This thematic issue seeks to address the questions arising from the changing governance structure of the Eurozone. First, how have the negotiations, pressures of the crises and reforms impacted the relationships between key actors like EU institutions and Member States? Second, where did national positions come from and what role did domestic po…
Formal Rules and Informal Cooperation: Inter-governmental Relations in Domestic European Policy Making in Comparative Perspective
One of the key elements of the strategies of interest representation of strong legislative regions in EU policy making is active participation in the co-ordination processes within the member state. This article argues that Europeanization of inter-governmental relations leads to a greater emphasis on cooperation in the formal rules on inter-governmental cooperation in EU affairs. However, when informal practices are taken into account, some memb…
Regional Representations in the EU: Between Diplomacy and Interest Mediation – By C. Rowe
Regional Representations in the EU: Between Diplomacy and Interest Mediation , by C. Rowe ( Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan , 2011 , ISBN 9780230220553 ); ix+245 pp. , £57.50 hb . In the literature on EU multi-level governance and sub-national interest mediation in European policy-making, it is a frequently mentioned fact that the EU comprises a wide variety of regions. At the same time, it is rarely analyzed how this diversity affects the Europ…
National Parliaments in the post-Lisbon European Union: Bureaucratization rather than Democratization
The Limits of Territorial Interest Representation in the European Union
According to the literature on lobbying, actors gain access to European policy-making in return for information and expertise. It is often assumed that territorial actors will be in a position to provide such information by virtue of being the implementing authorities. By contrast, this article argues that there is a need to examine further to what extent regions are able to use channels of interest representation and to supply information, what …
Formal Rules and Informal Cooperation: Inter-governmental Relations in Domestic European Policy Making in Comparative Perspective
One of the key elements of the strategies of interest representation of strong legislative regions in EU policy making is active participation in the co-ordination processes within the member state. This article argues that Europeanization of inter-governmental relations leads to a greater emphasis on cooperation in the formal rules on inter-governmental cooperation in EU affairs. However, when informal practices are taken into account, some memb…
All by themselves? Legislative regions and the use of unmediated access to the European level
Since the 1980s, the level of activism of regions in European Union policy-making has greatly increased, leading to the emergence of claims that regional governments can and do bypass national government in European negotiations. However, two decades after the emergence of the concept, the debate about the ability of regions to engage successfully in this process of continuous negotiation and to represent their interests on the European stage is …
Research Note: Studying a new phase of europeanisation of national parliaments
In this research note, we propose studying a new trend of Europeanisation in national parliaments within the European Union (EU). We argue that further integration, combined with the opportunities and challenges presented by the Lisbon Treaty and the financial crisis, created pressure on national parliaments to expand the scrutiny process beyond European Affairs Committees. In this new phase of Europeanisation, parliaments are increasingly ‘mains…
National Parliaments after Lisbon: Administrations on the Rise
In the wake of the lisbon treaty, much of the academic debate on national parliaments in the eu has focused on the new powers of national parliaments and the potential for the politicisation and parliamentarisation of the eu. In the process, the role of administrators in the parliamentary control of eu affairs has been neglected. This article addresses that gap by comparing parliamentary administrations to a set of ideal types on the basis of in-…
Luxembourg's EU Council Presidency: Adapting Routines to New Circumstances
An information network of officials? Dissecting the role and nature of the network of parliamentary representatives in the European Parliament
Enhancing the role of national parliaments in the European Union's decision-making process has for some time been a popular way in which policy-makers have sought to address legitimacy problems in the European Union, the Early Warning Mechanism being only one example. In response to these developments, an increasing number of scholars have addressed the question of how parliaments make use of these powers in practice. An important dimension of th…
The European Parliament in Times of Crisis: Transnationalism under Pressure
In 2015, the intensification of the migration crisis has exposed the European Union to a highly politicized policy problem that was subject to radically different national approaches. In the past, the literature has tended to present the European Parliament as a highly supranational institution, where formal procedures and informal practices have encouraged the emergence of transnational party groups over time. However, while these groups are now…
Regional parliaments questioning EU affairs
Since the Treaty of Lisbon, the desire of parliaments to adapt to their new powers has led to a new wave of Europeanisation. However, the early warning system (EWS) and the political dialogue with the Commission constitute only a small part of parliamentary scrutiny for regional parliaments, which still largely rely on traditional tools such as mandates, debates and questions. Therefore, this paper studies a traditional mechanism of scrutiny, par…
Regional parliaments in the EU multilevel parliamentary system
European integration has created a multilevel political system that is dominated by executive actors. Despite the increasing competences of the European Parliament, a growing EU-awareness of national assemblies and an emerging attention of regional parliaments for EU affairs, the EU polity still lacks a sound parliamentary representation. As the EU presents itself as a representative democracy, the current set-up raises questions from the perspec…
Conclusion: Regional parliaments – a distinct role in the EU
Regional parliaments can shape EU policy-making via a range of domestic and European channels. In the context of a renewed interest in the subnational level, this article aims to address three core questions: have regional parliaments really been empowered by the early warning system provisions? Which factors explain differences in strength and mobilisation? Finally, what kind of a role do regional parliaments play in EU policy-making today, now …
The parliamentary scrutiny of euro area national central banks
European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) involves several core principles for the organization of participating national central banks (NCBs/CBs), including their independence from political institutions. Early studies show that the level of national parliamentary scrutiny over euro area NCBs varied (Lepper and Sterne 2002). In this context, our article examines the extent to which parliaments make use of four distinct control mechanisms to hol…
The Politicisation of the European Central Bank and the Bundestag
The European Central Bank (ECB) became one of the key actors during the Eurozone crisis. However, its prominent role was not without controversy. On one hand, the Eurozone was stabilised, no member state defaulted, and no state had to leave the Euro. On the other hand, the ECB had to stretch its mandate, expand its policy remit, and adopt so-called ‘unconventional’ monetary policies. These attempts to depoliticise political challenges through a t…
Scrutiny or Complacency? Banking Union in the Bundestag and the Assemblée Nationale
The financial and eurozone crises highlighted the inadequacy of the original governance structures of the eurozone. In response, a range of reforms were launched, including the creation of a European banking union. In practice, some elements of the banking union were delayed by division among member states and the breakdown of the Franco-German motor, such as the question of the operationalization of the single resolution mechanism and fund or th…
Reforming the Institutions of Eurozone Governance
The Eurozone has faced repeated crises and has experienced profound transformations in the past years. This thematic issue seeks to address the questions arising from the changing governance structure of the Eurozone. First, how have the negotiations, pressures of the crises and reforms impacted the relationships between key actors like EU institutions and Member States? Second, where did national positions come from and what role did domestic po…
The mainstreaming of EU affairs: A Challenge for Parliamentary Administrations
Past research has identified a trend towards the bureaucratisation of the parliamentary scrutiny of EU affairs. It highlighted the role of parliamentary staff in selecting relevant issues, advising on subsidiarity and procedures and drafting of opinions and resolutions. However, while administrators clearly play a role, less is known about the Europeanisation of parliamentary administrations. In particular, the impact of the growing Europeanisati…
Introduction to the special issue: The persistent challenges to European Banking Union
The papers of this special issue investigate the persistent challenges to European Banking Union and explore the tensions between broader financial stability objectives and national political and socio-economic pressures through a diversity of lenses. In this introduction, we examine two main issues that need to be addressed in order to strengthen Banking Union: the incomplete institutional design of Banking Union and the difficulties encountered…
The ECB as a banking supervisor: Transparent compared to what
After over a decade of crisis, the ECB’s functions have expanded considerably, which in turn altered its relationship with other institutions. In particular, when the ECB assumed the role of Banking Supervisor under the Single Supervisory Mechanisms, it was generally accepted that this role would require more accountability than its traditional role in monetary policy. Yet, accountability requires transparency. However, there is a dearth of studi…
Maastricht Overcome: An Evolving Disconnect Between the ECB’s Power and Independence
In the course of the last two decades, the legitimacy of the European Central Bank (ECB) has withered as monetary policy has become more politicized. This editorial places these debates in the context of the literature on central bank independence. Many critical voices warned—long before the crisis—that the ideal of highly independent central banks with narrow technocratic mandates would not work in the long term and would come under particular p…
Understanding the Role of Political Staff and Parliamentary Administrations
The staff working in parliaments represent a highly relevant, yet significantly understudied group of actors. While political scientists have sought to understand the activities of elected representatives in parliaments, the role of the administration and political staff is understudied. However, the sparse case studies that exist underscore the key role played by political staff in brokering information, advising, preparing and exercising legisl…
The ECB’s Evolving Mandate and High Independence: An Undemocratic Mix
After over a decade of crisis, the ECB’s functions have expanded considerably. The ECB’s activities during the eurozone crisis, new debates on the ECB’s role in supporting political goals like the fight against climate change, and its participation in geopolitical stand-offs have overcome the fiction of a technocratic role that can be allocated to an independent institution with few constraints to democracy. We highlight how the ECB’s mandate has…
From Advisor to Interparliamentary Networker: A Typology of Parliamentary Officials in EU Affairs
Parliamentary staff in European affairs is a relatively young field of study. However, a solid understanding of the role these staff members play is important for grasping the political capacity of parliaments. Whether parliaments can exercise their powers effectively depends on their ability to collect and process information, and officials can play a key role in this context. This also holds true within the European arena. Both the European Par…
Who’s Got MPs’ Back? Understanding the Drivers of Specialisation in the Offices of MPs
Being an elected MP comes with numerous time‐consuming and work‐intensive tasks that exceed the capacity of a single individual. While not universal, in many parliamentary democracies, MPs receive funds to employ personal staff, who take on substantial portions of this workload by advising and supporting MPs in their daily political activities. Although the role of parliamentary administrations has received growing scholarly attention, the questi…
Political science (24 works) · Law (23 works) · Law (23 works) · European Union Policy and Governance (21 works) · Politics (20 works) · Economics (19 works) · European union (18 works) · Political economy (16 works) · Public Administration (15 works) · Public Administration (15 works)