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The handle http://hdl.handle.net/1887/46112 holds various files of this Leiden University dissertation
Author: Mickler, T.A.
Title: Parliamentary committees in a party-centred context : structure, composition, functioning
Issue Date: 2017-02-22
Parliamentary Committees in a Party-Centred
Context - Structure, Composition, Functioning
Typesetting Tim Mickler LATEX
© 2017 Tim Mickler. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from the proprietor.
Parliamentary Committees in a Party-Centred Context - Structure, Composition, Functioning
Proefschrift ter verkrijging van
de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden, op gezag van Rector Magnificus prof.mr. C.J.J.M. Stolker,
volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op woensdag 22 februari 2017
klokke 16:15 uur
door
Tim Alexander Mickler
geboren te Gelsenkirchen (Duitsland) in 1986
Promotoren
Prof. dr. Rudy B. Andeweg Prof. dr. Ruud A. Koole
Promotiecommissie Prof. dr. Joop van den Berg Prof. dr. Petr Kopecký Dr. Tom Louwerse
Dr. Shane Martin, University of Essex
Prof. dr. Thomas Saalfeld, Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg Prof. dr. Nikoleta Yordanova, Universität Mannheim
Acknowledgements
This thesis is the outcome of a process of reading, coding, running analyses, transcribing interviews and (re-)writing. However, it is not only the manifestation of my work at the keyboard. Many people have warned me at the beginning and during my project that there will be a time when I will get tired of it and long for it to be finished. None of those predictions came true. Since the first day of my project I have thoroughly enjoyed it and there has never been a moment in which I regretted entering the “black box” that is a PhD project.
Amongst the celebration to finish the project, the right people need to be thanked in the right sort of way.
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisors Rudy Andeweg and Ruud Koole for their continuous support of my research, for their patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. This thesis has benefited greatly from their input and their critical comments. I keep on being amazed about their ability to bring up painful weaknesses in my argument, but also to point me to the right direction with extraordinary clarity. In moments of uncertainty their doors were always open and there has not been a single discussion which did not provide me with solutions to my problems.
I would like to thank Harry Ganzeboom, Hans Keman and Jaap Woldendorp from whom I have learned a lot during my studies and my employment as student assistant at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Each of them helped me greatly with my application to the position at Leiden University. This book would not exist without their support.
A special thanks goes to all the legislators from the Bundestag, the Dáil and the Tweede Kamer, who agreed to talk to me - this is not to be taken for granted given their busy schedules and frequent requests. All discussions have given me unique insights into the inner-workings of parliamentary party groups which I greatly appreciate.
For checking the individual country data on committee structures I am deeply indebted to Ana Belchior, Theodore Chatzipantelis, Olivier Costa, Sam Depauw, Agnieszka Dudzi ´nska, Patrick Dumont, Naofumi Fujimura, Marco Giuliani, Magnus Hagevi, Martin Ejnar Hansen, Miro Haˇcek, Reuven Hazan, Knut Heidar, Janis Ikstens, Gabriella Ilonszki, Phil Larkin, Alvidas Lukošaitis, Zdenka Mansfeldová, Shane Martin, Wolfgang C. Müller, Vello Andres Pettai, Christopher D. Raymond, Marek Rybáˇr, Mihkel Solvak, Astrid Spreitzer, Juan Rodríguez Teruel, Adrian Vatter, Cynthia van Vonno and Matti Wiberg. Thanks to David Farrell and Art O’Leary for sharing their insight into Irish politics with me during my field work in Ireland. Thanks to Zoltán Fazekas for his help with choosing the statistical model.
My time at Leiden University was made enjoyable in large part due to the many friends and groups that became a part of my life. All other (current and former, research as well as support staff ) members of the institute of political science at Leiden University have made me feel welcome right from the start and I thank them for this. The institute, with all of its quirkiness, peculiarities and specialities
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that a proper political science institute should have (and I mean that in the most positive way), has made this a very special place for me to carry out my research. I have greatly enjoyed my time here and I could not have wished for a better place.
A special thanks goes to Michael Meffert. His impressive knowledge of statistics and his willingness to help me with my questions regarding the statistical models almost makes me forget that he makes poor choices when it comes to select his favourite football club. A special thanks is also extended to Joop van Holsteyn who always had an open door and an open ear and whose advice helped me greatly in many situations.
I would like to thank the other (former and current) graduate students in the institute. It has been a pleasure to work with them over the years. I also would like to thank my paranymphs, Jannine van de Maat and Wouter Veenendaal, for their friendship and their help in organising the ceremony.
Thanks to Derek, Frank, Huub, Jasper, Thomas and Ufuk for their distraction from the project and for all the fun we had. Floor, thank you for being who you are.
Lastly, I would like to acknowledge with gratitude the unbelievable support of my family - my parents, Heike and Rainer, and my sister Linda.
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Contents
Acknowledgements i
List of Figures vi
List of Tables viii
List of Abbreviations xi
1 Introduction: Legislative Organisation, Parliamentary
Party Groups and Committees 1
The Significance of Committees in Parliaments... 1 The Puzzle: Committees and the Chain of Delegation ... 8
2 Research on Committees: A Review of Theories and
Literature 16
Theories on Legislative Organisation - Congressional Perspectives and
“Keeping Tabs”... 16 The Debate on Committees: A Review ... 27
3 Theoretical Framework: Congressional Theories in a Parliamentary Party Group-Centred Context 35
Using Congressional Theories Outside of the U.S. Congress: A Defence ... 35 Adapting the Theories: A New Framework with Parliamentary Party Groups
as Main Actors... 39 Hypotheses and Expectations Using the ‘New’ Framework ... 44 Method of the Study: Large-n Cross-National Analysis of Committee
Structures, Small-n Focused Comparison of Committee Workings ... 57 Case Selection for Small-n Country Comparison ... 58 Research Strategy: Different Methodology per Sub-Question... 65
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4 Analysing Structural Features of Committee Systems 68
Committee Structures in Thirty-Three Parliaments: An Extended Overview . 68 Analysing Structural Variation: The Concept of Committee Autonomy... 78 Analysing Variation in Committee Autonomy: Operationalising the
Independent Variables ... 82 Results: What Explains the Variation in Committee Structures? ... 89 Conclusion: Informational Gains and Coalition Logic... 96
5 Analysing Criteria to Select Committee Members 99
The Committee Systems of the Dáil, the Tweede Kamer and the Bundestag.. 99 The Statistical Analysis: Choosing an Appropriate Model for Committee
Assignments ...109 Data Set: Measuring Committee Membership and Operationalising the
Variables ...113 Analysis and Results Committee Assignment: Who Gets What and Why? ...130 Conclusion: Specialisation and Committee Experience Paired with
Country-Specific Patterns ...183
6 Analysing Committee Workings: The Relationship between Committee Members and their Parliamentary
Party Group 186
Individual Committee Members and their Parliamentary Party Group ...186 The Individual Legislator in the Policy-Making Process of the Tweede
Kamer and the Bundestag...188 The Individual Legislator in the Policy-Making Process of the Dáil...217 Conclusion: An Informational Rationale to ‘Keep the Sludge Moving’ versus
Executive-Dominated Committees...225
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7 Conclusion: The Role and Workings of Specialised Committees in Parliaments with Strong Parliamentary
Party Groups 229
Are Specialised Committees Microcosms, Outliers, Watchdogs, or ‘Under the Thumb’?...229 Discussion: Committees and the Chain of Delegation ...240 Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Future Research ...244
Appendices 248
Bibliography 318
Dutch Summary 346
English Summary 352
Curriculum Vitae 358
v
List of Figures
1.1 Chain of delegation from individual voters to elected representatives 2 1.2 Chain of delegation from individual voters to elected
representatives, including parliamentary party groups . . . 4 1.3 Schematic depiction of plenum and committees in a legislature
with three parliamentary party groups . . . 7 1.4 Chain of delegation from individual voters to elected
representatives, including parliamentary committees . . . 9 3.1 Schematic depiction of relationship between one parliamentary
party group and its members in committees . . . 54 3.2 Depiction of the selection criteria for the final case selection . . . . 60 3.3 Comparison district magnitude in twenty-two legislatures with
strong parliamentary party groups . . . 63 4.1 Number referred and reported bills. 93rd - 113th US Congress . . . 76 4.2 Committee autonomy scores in 30 legislatures . . . 81 4.3 Scatterplots of the bivariate models with autonomy score . . . 90 4.4 Visualisation of the effect of average number of bills per legislator 96 5.1 Schematic representation of data structure . . . 110 5.2 Depiction reference texts and virgin texts . . . 124 5.3 Visualisation of the prediction of the interaction effects of
ideological distance from the parliamentary party group mean (left plot) and number legislative periods (right plot) with high and low importance committees . . . 155 5.4 Visualisation of the interaction effects of ideological distance
from the parliamentary party group mean (upper row) and number legislative periods (lower row) with high and low importance committees 30th Dáil (Model 1 shown in first column, Model 2 shown in second column) . . . 156 5.5 Visualisation of the interaction effects of ideological distance
from the parliamentary party group mean (upper row) and number legislative periods (lower row) with high and low importance committees 17th Bundestag (Model 1 shown in first column, Model 2 shown in second column, only full members) . . 159 5.6 Visualisation of the interaction effects of ideological distance
from the parliamentary party group mean (upper row) and number legislative periods (lower row) with high and low importance committees in the Tweede Kamer 2010-2012 (Model 1 shown in first column, Model 2 shown in second column, only full members) . . . 162 5.7 Visualisation of the interaction effects of the place on the party list
with high and low importance committees Tweede Kamer 2010- 2012 (Model 1 shown in plot a), Model 2 shown in plot b)) . . . 173 6.1 Schematic depiction organisational layers SPD and CDU/CSU in
the Bundestag . . . 194
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6.2 Schematic depiction organisational layers The Left and Green Party (Bundestag) . . . 195 6.3 Schematic depiction organisational layers larger parliamentary
party groups Tweede Kamer (VVD, PvdA) . . . 196 6.4 Schematic depiction relation spokesperson to work group and
parliamentary party group meeting . . . 199 6.5 Schematic depiction escalation ladder within parliamentary party
group . . . 206 6.6 Schematic depiction escalation ladder between parliamentary
party groups in coalition . . . 214 A1 Example committee membership list German MPs . . . 295 A2 Example committee membership list Dutch MPs . . . 296 A3 Comparison W-NOMINATE scores 113th Congress (U.S. House of
Representatives/ Senate) and Dáil Divisions (between March 2011 - April 2014 (n= 524) . . . 301 A4 Visualisation Wordscores PPGs and Committees 30th Dáil . . . 304 A5 Visualisation Wordscores PPGs and Committees Tweede Kamer
2010-2012 . . . 305 A6 Visualisation Wordscores PPGs and Committees 17th Bundestag . 306
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List of Tables
2.1 Example of transitive preferences of legislators . . . 19 3.1 Translation of congressional theories into the new framework . . . 43 3.2 Prediction of each theory with regard to the functioning of
committees . . . 55 3.3 Number interviewed legislators per country . . . 66 4.1 List of items measuring the formal structures and
operationalisation of committee autonomy . . . 80 4.2 Descriptive statistics of the independent variables for the analysis
of committee structures . . . 88 4.3 Results Multiple Linear Regression Model for Committee
Autonomy Scores . . . 92 5.1 Specialised Committees established at the beginning of the 18th
Bundestag (2013-) . . . 101 5.2 Specialised Committees established at the beginning of the 31st
Dáil (2011-2016) . . . 103 5.3 Specialised Committees established at the beginning of the 2012
Tweede Kamer . . . 105 5.4 Overview analysed committee minutes per legislative period
(Tweede Kamer) . . . 115 5.5 Overview of operationalisation of variables per hypothesis . . . 128 5.6 Overview data set variables per country and legislative period (n.a.
= not available) . . . 129 5.7 Overview of placement of model summaries . . . 131 5.8 Percentage of Members of Dáil Éireann declaring ‘Nil’ in
occupational income, directorships and remunerated positions (1998-2010) . . . 143 5.9 Overview of parliamentary party group membership of committee
(vice) chairs in relation to the party membership of government ministers in Germany (1998-2013) . . . 165 5.10 Overview of parliamentary party group membership of committee
(vice) chairs in relation to the party membership of government ministers in Ireland (28th - 31st Dáil) . . . 168 5.11 Overview of parliamentary party group membership of committee
(vice) chairs in relation to the party membership of government ministers in the Netherlands (1998 - 2012) . . . 171 5.12 Model summaries multiple-membership multilevel model of
committee assignments in the Dáil (27th - 31st legislative period) . 176 5.13 Model summaries multiple-membership multilevel model of
committee assignments in the Bundestag 12th to 18th legislative period (full members incl. transfers) . . . 177 5.14 Model summaries multiple-membership multilevel model of
committee assignments in the Bundestag 12th to 18th legislative period (substitute members) . . . 178
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5.15 Model summaries multiple-membership multilevel model of committee assignments in the Tweede Kamer 1994 - 2012 (full
members including transfers) . . . 179
5.16 Model summaries multiple-membership multilevel model of committee assignments in the Tweede Kamer (substitute members including transfers) . . . 180
5.17 Model summaries multiple-membership multilevel model of committee assignments in the Dáil (27th - 31st legislative period - only large PPGs) . . . 181
5.18 Model summaries multiple membership multilevel model of committee assignments in the Tweede Kamer 1994 - 2012, including only large PPGs (Full (Model 1) and substitute members (Model 2) including transfers) . . . 182
7.1 Results of the study . . . 234
7.2 Results of the study . . . 236
7.3 Results of the study - qualitative part . . . 238
A1 Overview of electoral systems for 33 directly elected chambers with strong parliamentary party groups . . . 249
A2 Committee structures overview - Part 1 . . . 254
A3 Committee structures overview - Part 2 . . . 259
A4 Committee structures overview - Part 3 . . . 262
A5 Committee structures overview - Part 4 . . . 266
A6 Committee structures overview - Part 5 . . . 271
A7 Bivariate models of predictor variables with committee autonomy 282 A8 Table of correlation coefficients between all possible pairs of independent variables . . . 283
A9 Rice scores roll call votes Bundestag 17th legislative period (2013 votes, n= 37) . . . 299
A10 Number of analysed plenary documents, speeches and personal statements . . . 303
A11 High importance committees Dáil . . . 307
A12 High importance committees Bundestag . . . 308
A13 High importance committees Tweede Kamer . . . 309
A14 Descriptive statistics of the data set on committee assignments, Bundestag . . . 310
A15 Descriptive statistics of the data set on committee assignments, Bundestag - part 2 . . . 311
A16 Descriptive statistics of the data set on committee assignments, Dáil Éireann . . . 312
A17 Descriptive statistics of the data set on committee assignments, Dáil Éireann - part 2 . . . 313
A18 Descriptive statistics of the data set on committee assignments, Tweede Kamer . . . 314
A19 Descriptive statistics of the data set on committee assignments, Tweede Kamer . . . 315
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A20 Model summaries multiple-membership multilevel model of committee assignments in the Tweede Kamer 1994 - 2012 (full members including transfers), including variable ‘place on candidate list’ . . . 316 A21 Model summaries multiple-membership multilevel model of
committee assignments in the Tweede Kamer 1994 - 2012 (full members including transfers), including variable ‘place on candidate list’ . . . 317
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List of Abbreviations
AUS - AustraliaAUT - Austria BEL - Belgium CAN - Canada
CDA - ChristenDemocratisch Appèl
CDU - Christlich Demokratische Union Deutschlands CEE - Central and Eastern Europe
CRO - Croatia CR - Czech Republic
CSU - Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern D66 - Democraten 66
dF - degrees of freedom DK - Denmark
ESP - Spain EST - Estonia
e.g. - exempli gratia - for example EP - European Parliament FDP - Freie Demokratische Partei FF - Fianna Fáil
FG - Fine Gael FIN - Finland FRA - France
FPTP - First-past-the-post voting system GER - Germany
GRE - Greece HUN - Hungary ICE - Iceland IE - Ireland
i.e. - id est - that is to say ISR - Israel
ITA - Italy JP - Japan LAT - Latvia LIT - Lithuania
LPF - Lijst Pim Fortuyn LUX - Luxembourg
MEP - Member of the European Parliament MMD - Multi-member district
MP - Member of Parliament MT - Malta
NL - Netherlands NO - Norway NZ - New Zealand
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PBC - Public Bill Committee POL - Poland
POR - Portugal
PPG - Parliamentary party group PR - Proportional representation
PSG - Parliamentary system of government PvdA - Partij van de Arbeid
PVV - Partij Voor de Vrijheid SD - Standard deviation SF - Sinn Féin
SGP - Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij SLK - Slovakia
SLO - Slovenia
SMD - Single-member district SP - Socialistische Partij
SPD - Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands SUI - Switzerland
SWE - Sweden TD - Teachta Dála
TG - Technical Group (an alliance of independent TDs in the Dáil) UK - United Kingdom
USA - United States of America
VVD - Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie
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