Constituency pressures on committee selection: Evidence from the Northern Ireland Assembly and Dáil Éireann

Christopher D. Raymond, Jacob Holt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Most previous research examining selection to committees assumes constituency pressures—leading representatives to seek committee assignments dealing with their constituents’ particularistic interests that improve their re-election prospects—are incompatible with disciplined parties, which may prevent such personal vote-seeking behaviour in order to preserve the party’s brand. In contrast, we argue parties will support committee assignments promoting members’ re-election chances because parties benefit from their members’ re-election. Analysing two legislatures with highly disciplined parties and electoral systems encouraging personal vote-seeking—the Northern Ireland Assembly and Dáil Éireann—our analysis suggests constituency pressures increase the chances of selection to committees enhancing members’ re-election prospects.
Original languageEnglish
JournalParliamentary Affairs
Early online date20 Feb 2017
DOIs
Publication statusEarly online date - 20 Feb 2017

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