One of the chief tasks facing political leaders is to build and maintain unity within their
parties. This text examines the relationship between party leaders and Members of …

The level and causes of party unity are under-researched topics in parliamentary
democracies, particularly in comparative perspective. This article presents a non-formal …

Parliamentary committees are among the most important features of legislative organisation
in contemporary democracies. This analysis identifies three perspectives on committees in …

Scholars often use roll-call votes to study legislative behaviour. However, many legislatures
only conclude a minority of decisions by roll call. Thus, if these votes are not a random …

It is hard to envisage representative government, save in terms of unified political parties.
Legislative voting unity is a precondition for responsible party government. Existing …

Roll call votes in parliaments may yield important insights into various aspects of political
systems. They may inform us on the apparent conflict lines in parliaments, 1 the cohesion2 …

This paper contributes to current debates on the politicization of international politics by
examining party-political contestation of peace and security missions. It is guided by two …

Der Band führt in die Theorie und Praxis einer zentralen Organisationsform der Demokratie
ein, in den Parlamentarismus. Angesprochen werden die Geschichte und theoretischen …

As Schattschneider (1942) pointed out more than half a century ago, political parties are the
key institutions of representative democracy. It is not surprising that a long tradition of …

This article gives a comprehensive account of the rules and practices of agenda setting that
were typically in force in the lower or single Houses of Western European (national) …