Policy leadership and re-election in the European Parliament

Abstract

What determines the re-election of incumbent members of the European Parliament (MEPs)? Using Heckman probit models with sample selection to predict re-election in 2014, this contribution considers the impact of policy leadership, formal leadership, professional dedication, and seniority, and investigates the conditional effect of ballot structures. It finds that formal leadership only has a positive effect for party leaders elected from open lists, while dedication and seniority do not impact incumbents' electoral performance. Instead, policy leadership is most clearly associated with incumbents' electoral fortunes, including an innovative new measure of MEPs' ability to influence the votes of others. The results also suggest that party leaders, when creating electoral lists that are not subject to change by voters, seek to ensure that policy leaders are reelected, but that voters, when given the opportunity to change the rankings of candidates on electoral lists, favor MEPs with greater electoral visibility instead.

Individual Determinants for the Selection of Group Coordinators in the European Parliament

“…However, there is mixed evidence for the effect of loyal voting behaviour on the career prospects of MEPs. While loyalty to the national party delegation has been found to be irrelevant for their re‐election fortunes (Frech, , p. 17; Wilson et al ., , p. 1169), loyalty to the EPG seems to have become increasingly relevant for the recruitment of rapporteurs (Yordanova, , p. 114; Yordanova, , pp. 79–81).…”

Vissza a politikatudományba

“…pl. Frech, 2016;Obholzer-Daniel, 2016;Sigalas, 2011;Thomme-Ringe-Victor, 2015;Wilson-Ringe-Thomme, 2016), ami tovább árnyalhatja a demokráciadeficittel kapcsolatos tudásunkat, és újabb megoldási lehetőségeket villanthat fel annak csökkentésére. Bíró-Nagy András könyve azért is különösen fontos ebből a szempontból, mert tudomásom szerint eleddig egy tudományos munka sem foglalkozott kifejezetten az újonnan csatlakozó országokkal, és ahhoz, hogy megértsük ezen országok EU-hoz való viszonyát, és gondolkozhassunk azon, hogy hogyan lehet közelebb hozni az EU-t a választókhoz, az első lépés az, hogy megértsük az EP főszereplőinek viszonyát saját képviselői szerepükhöz.…”

An inflection point in European Union studies?

“…As the contributions in this collection illustrate, EU studies is very policy focused (as also suggested by the title of JEPP), just not necessarily the policies in the news. Wilson et al (2016) ask what affects the re-election of incumbent members of the European Parliament? Hassel et al (2016) and Mabbett (2016) consider how European integration -particularly the free movement of workers -affected labor relations in the member states.…”

“…Wilson et al (2016) analyze what affects re-election of incumbent members of the European Parliament. This is a type of question familiar to scholars of the politics of democratic states.…”

“…They therefore contend that the European institutions' emphasis on the freedom of movement as the benefit of EU citizenship is failing to foster a sense of European citizenship. Wilson et al (2016) seek to explain the electoral fortunes of individual, incumbent members of the European Parliament (MEPs) who are seeking re-election. They find that those who are able to influence the votes of the greatest number of their parliamentary colleagues across policy areas, what they call 'policy voting leaders', are more likely to be re-elected when party leaders control the order of the candidates on the electoral lists.…”