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Voting behavior of representatives in the European Parliament

The present study examines the voting behavior of the first-directly elected European Parliament. The main question of the research is how did the Members or the European Parliament vote during the first term of the Parliament. Did they follow their nation's or their political group's guidelines? The first directly elected Parliament included 434 deputies from ten members of the European Community. These members belonged to seven different political groups. The roll-call votes of the first term (1979-1984) provides the basis for this study. The analysis is done by using two methodological techniques: factor analysis and Multiple Classification Analysis. / The research has revealed that this multi-ethnic and relatively new institution has taken seriously its role. Despite the bad press coverage that has received, the European Parliament has demonstrated that is a parliament in the making. Its members voted most of the time as a political group and not as national group. These findings suggest that if the European Parliament is delegated additional powers will become a legitimate and a more responsible institution. In addition the study implies that if the EP becomes more powerful there is going to be a further integration of the European Community. The Parliament provides the basis for legitimacy of the EC because it is the only of the four institutions that is democratically elected by the European citizens. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 51-12, Section: A, page: 4265. / Major Professor: Russell Dalton. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1990.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_78365
ContributorsBourdouvalis, Christos., Florida State University
Source SetsFlorida State University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeText
Format325 p.
RightsOn campus use only.
RelationDissertation Abstracts International

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