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

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.