Responsiveness and Democratic Accountability
Observational Evidence from an Experiment in a Mixed‐Member Proportional System
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6300340 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christian Breunig (0000-0002-8074-6712, University of Konstanz), Emiliano Grossman (0000-0002-5547-6028, Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, corresponding author), Miriam Hänni (0000-0001-8540-4044, Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 79-94 |
| Publication date | 2022-02-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Legislative Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0362-9805 • E-ISSN: 1939-9162 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/lsq.12326 |
| OpenAlex | W3118170928 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 17 |
| References cited | 24 |
Electoral systems provide distinctive accountability mechanisms in democratic polities and thereby affect government responsiveness to citizens. In this article, we concentrate on the effects of proportional vis‐à‐vis majoritarian electoral rules. We expect members of parliament to be more responsive under majoritarian rule, because these MPs have a direct mandate from their local constituency, are less dependent on their party, and can be held directly accountable by voters. We exploit Germany's mixed‐member system and test MP’s responsiveness using behavioral data generated within a two‐round field experiment. The experiment observes concrete interactions between voters and representatives. In the experiment, real voters sent emails about a policy issue to their MPs. We show that MPs who were elected via the majoritarian tier are almost twice as likely to respond to a voter request than MPs elected via PR. Our results deliver novel evidence that electoral institutions cause distinct behavioral responses from elected officials
Accountability · Computer security · Democracy · Economics · Exploit · Government (linguistics · Mandate · Parliament · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Test (biology · Computer Science · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Experimental Behavioral Economics Studies · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Public Administration
When Legislators Do Not Differentiate
Introduction to Symposium
Corruption and accountability
The effect of incumbency in a mixed-member electoral system
Electoral incentives make politicians respond to voter preferences
Tweeting the Mandate? Local Newspaper Sharing and the Mandate Divide in MPs’ Social Media Use
Ethics Audits in Cross-National Research
Should we conduct correspondence study field experiments with political elites
Understanding Accountability in Democratic Governance
Issue congruence between candidates' Twitter communication and constituencies in an MMES
Who Runs for Higher Office? Electoral Institutions and Level‐Hopping Attempts in Germany's State Legislatures
Who Represents the Constituency? Online Political Communication by Members of Parliament in the German Mixed‐Member Electoral System
How political and social constituent traits affect the responsiveness of legislators
Service Responsiveness to Minority Constituents
Does (Non-)Localness Affect MPs’ Levels of Responsiveness? Evidence from a UK Field Experiment
The Effects of Import Shocks, Electoral Institutions, and Radical Party Competition on Legislator Ideology
Do competitive districts get more political attention? Strategic use of geographic representation during campaign and non-campaign periods
Mixed Electoral Systems
Making Votes Count
Representing the Advantaged
Mixed-Member Electoral Systems
Patterns of democracy
The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems
Legislator Shirking and Voter Monitoring
The Constituency Service Basis of the Personal Vote for U.S. Representatives and British Members of Parliament
A Field Experiment on Legislators’ Home Styles
A Unified Scale of Electoral Incentives
Who brings home the pork? Parties and the role of localness in committee assignments in mixed-member proportional systems
Using MP statements to explain voting behaviour in the German Bundestag
Determinants of Home Style
The Puzzle of Representation
Incentives in Mixed-Member Electoral Systems
Strategy Takes a Holiday
Field Experimental Work on Political Institutions
Plurality Rule, Proportional Representation, and the German Bundestag
Electoral Context and MP Constituency Focus in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom
The Electoral Sweet Spot
Incentives to cultivate a personal vote
Constituency Influence in Congress
The majoritarian and proportional visions and democratic responsiveness
MP behavior in mixed-member electoral systems
| Unique citing works | 17 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 4,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 17 |