Dissertation
Achieving Party Unity: A Sequential Approach to Why MPs Act in Concert
When it comes to voting, party group unity is the rule rather than the exception in most (European) parliamentary democracies. But how do individual MPs come to their decision to vote according to the party group line?
- Author
- Cynthia van Vonno
- Date
- 02 March 2016
In her dissertation Achieving Party Unity: A Sequential Approach to Why MPs Act in Concert, political scientist Cynthia van Vonno (Leiden University) finds that—contrary to what is often (implicitly) assumed—party discipline is seldom necessary to get MPs to toe the party group line. Rather, parliamentarians vote with their party group of their own accord, either as a result of cue-taking, simple agreement, or because they subscribe to the norm of party loyalty.