Party Discipline and Parliamentary Politics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6314014 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Markus Wagner (0000-0002-0036-1266, University of Vienna, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 65 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 470-477 |
| Publication date | 2012-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Parliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pa/gsr038 |
| OpenAlex | W2329070176 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 13 |
What do Members of Parliament (MPs) actually do? Many constituents might struggle to give an answer to that question. As Tony Wright (2010, p. 299) notes, being an MP means having a ‘job without any job description at all’. One activity of MPs is generally quite clear: they vote in the House of Commons. In doing so, they either provide the government with a majority or form its opposition in Parliament. Their position is that of the essential link between the mass of voters and the single government that is formed as a result of the ballots they cast (Strøm, 2000). The expectation of much political science research is that MPs in the UK will tend to vote in very cohesive party blocs. Yet, their voting behaviour has become known less for its cohesion and more for the level of dissent, which has increased dramatically in the last decades (Norton, 1975, 1980; Cowley, 2002, 2005). There is no sign that the current Parliament is any exception to this trend (Cowley and Stuart, 2010). The levels of dissent in the UK are relatively high compared with those in similar systems such as Australia and New Zealand (before 1996); Canada, with its frequent minority governments, has similar levels of dissent as the UK (Kam, 2009, chapter 3). Much effort has been devoted to studying why MPs vote against their party (e.g. Cowley, 2002, 2005; Benedetto and Hix, 2007
Dissent · House of Commons · Opposition (politics · Parliament · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Voting · Wright · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · History · Law · Political Influence and Corporate Strategies · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics
Communicating the Rift
Dropping the Curtain
Membership ballots and the value of intra-party democracy
Loyal Activists? Party Socialization and Dissenting Voting Behavior in Parliament
Voting Behaviour in the 19th German Bundestag and Beyond
Politicians as Party Hacks
Symbols of the Struggle
Whose bread I don’t eat, his song I don’t sing? MPs’ outside earnings and dissenting voting behaviour
What are MPs for
Consensus and Structure in Legislative Norms
Do Candidates Make a Difference? Gender, Race, Ideology and Incumbency
Constituency Service by Members of Parliament
The Web of Authority
Do voters reward rebellion? The electoral accountability of MPs in Britain
The Rejected, the Ejected, and the Dejected
Where's the Party
The electoral effectiveness of constituency campaigning in the 2010 British general election
MPs for Sale? Returns to Office in Postwar British Politics
Strategic Opposition and Government Cohesion in Westminster Democracies
Cohesion in Legislatures and the Vote of Confidence Procedure
Ministerial Selection and Intraparty Organization in the Contemporary British Parliament
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,8 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2024 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |