Shirking and Slacking in Parliament1
Elena Frech2
Département de science politique
et relations internationales
Université de Genève
, Niels Goet3
Department of Politics and
International Relations
University of Oxford
, Simon Hug4
Département de science politique
et relations internationales
Université de Genève
First version: September 2017, this very preliminary version: Nov 6, 2017
Abstract
The behavior of individual members of parliament (MPs) is not only a
question of conscience and their political position. Their choice to
speak, vote, or otherwise select a behavioural strategy from a wide
arsenal of parliamentary tactics is influenced by, among countless
other factors, constituency interests, parliamentary rules, and the
party leadership. Term limits remove one of the most important
motivations of MP behaviour: re-election constraints. Following the
literature we study whether term-limited MPs engage in shirking - not
voting with the party line - and/or slacking - a reduction of
parliamentary activities. Drawing on empirical material stemming from
various Swiss parliamentary chambers we can assess these effects in
different institutional settings (different term limits and different
federal levels) and take advantage of behavioral data not available in
other settings. More specifically, at the federal level we use
information both from roll-call and other votes to assess in more
detail how term-limited MPs engage in shirking towards their party and
their constituencies. Speeches from all chambers studied allow us to
determine how the proximity to the party leadership changes, offering
additional insights into shirking behavior. These speeches together
with other activities (e.g. bill introduction, questions, etc.) offer
also information on whether term-limited MPs engage in slacking.
Footnotes:
1Partial financial
support by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grants No.
100012-111909, 100012-129737 and 100017L-162427) as well as the
help by Thomas Dähler and Peter Frankenbach in providing data on the
parliament in Basel-Stadt is gratefully acknowledged.
2 Département de science politique et relations internationales, Faculté des sciences de la société
; Université de Genève; 40 Bd du Pont
d'Arve; 1211 Genève 4; Switzerland; email:
Elena.Frech@unige.ch
3 University of Oxford, Department of Politics and International Relations;
email: niels.goet@politics.ox.ac.uk.
4 Département de science politique et relations internationales, Faculté des sciences de la société
; Université de Genève; 40 Bd du Pont
d'Arve; 1211 Genève 4; Switzerland; phone ++41 22 379 83 78; email:
simon.hug@unige.ch
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