NaPRe The Nature of Political Representation in Times of Dealignment
Final Report Abstract
The increasing distance between voters and political parties in established democracies raises questions about the mediation of politics in representative systems. On this basis, this project examined the question of how responsive individual members of parliament are to which groups of voters and for what reasons. On the one hand, this includes the degree and selectivity of responsive representation. On the other hand, it also involves different dimensions of responsiveness, e.g. the distinction between communicative responsiveness, i.e. the willingness to interact, and substantial responsiveness, i.e. the willingness to take interests into account within the parliamentary framework. In line with these important conceptual distinctions, the research question was to be empirically investigated on two levels in the project.. Firstly, by way of a field experiment with MPs in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands. With this experiment, we hoped to shed light on the empirical question of the probability with which MPs respond to unsolicited politically defined requests from voters with relevant positions and information, and whether such a form of communicative responsiveness is evenly distributed or whether specific groups are systematically discriminated against. On the one hand, we were interested in the discrimination of specific social groups such as the socially disadvantaged or ethnic minorities. On the other, the question of party loyalty also played a role, i.e. whether MPs respond primarily to partyaffiliated voters. Secondly, the research question was to be investigated on the basis of a textbased analysis on the parliamentary actions of MPs. This was linked to an empirical interest in substantive responsiveness and in the question of the probability and extent to which MPs actively support which social groups in the parliamentary process through speeches and thus promote their interests.
Publications
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The Personal Sources of Responsiveness. Introduction to a Special Section. Swiss Political Science Review, 26(1), 1-9.
Campbell, Rosie & Zittel, Thomas
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Ethics Audits in Cross-National Research: Experiences from Correspondence Study Field Experiments with National Politicians in Four European Democracies. Political Studies Review, 20(2), 184-191.
Pedersen, Helene Helboe; Louwerse, Tom & Zittel, Thomas
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Measuring MPs’ Responsiveness: How to Do it and Stay Out of Trouble. Political Studies Review, 20(2), 175-183.
Campbell, Rosie & Bolet, Diane
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Should we conduct correspondence study field experiments with political elites?. International Political Science Review, 44(4), 459-470.
Zittel, Thomas; Louwerse, Tom; Helboe, Pedersen Helene & Schakel, Wouter
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Geographical Representation Under a Single Nationwide District: The Case of the Netherlands. Legislative Studies Quarterly, 48(3), 591-621.
Nagtzaam, Marijn & Louwerse, Tom
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How political and social constituent traits affect the responsiveness of legislators: A Comparative Field Experiment. European Journal of Political Research, 64(1), 229-250.
Schakel, Wouter; Baumann, Markus; Bolet, Diane; Campbell, Rosie; Louwerse, Tom & Zittel, Thomas
