Scienza Politica

Is euro-voting truly supranational?

National affiliation and political group membership in European Parliament

di Lorenzo Cicchi

editore: Pisa University Press

pagine: 224

This book aims at investigating, through the analysis of voting records, existing surveys and original survey data, the voting behaviour of the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). As the European Parliament’s centrality within the European Union’s institutional structure has increased, its political groups have been generally described as cohesive actors: MEPs from the same political group are likely to vote together, regardless of their nationality. Yet, this tells us only part of the story: what happens when particular interests trigger contrasts between European and national allegiances? Is the European Parliament truly supranational or do national dynamics still exist at European level? And, in this second case, to what extent? This study aims at answering these questions through an innovative mixed-method approach. In particular, new data from an original survey is used to integrate traditional quantitative methods of parliamentary behaviour analysis. Finally, this is coupled with an in-depth qualitative assessment of the empirical data. This book contributes to the literature by providing a refined theory of voting behaviour in the European Parliament and original evidence on the recurrent question of political group membership versus national affiliation. It can be of interest to scholars of voting behaviour as well as to practitioners concerned with the internal dynamics of the European Parliament.

€16,00

Anti-Austerity Left Parties in the European Union

Competition, coordination and Integration

di Enrico Calossi

editore: Pisa University Press

pagine: 220

This book aims at investigating, through the analysis of secondary literature, electoral manifestos, congress documents and media statements, the current structuring of political parties of the Left into various sub-families. In particular, have old partitions between the sub-families of the Left largely faded out? And have new lines of competition amongst left parties emerged? Historically, political parties situated to the left of social democracy were diverse and difficultly they were classified in a single coherent political family. Several subtypes have been distinguished in the literature. This had made of the Left a less homogeneous party family than the Christian-democratic, Socialist, Green or Liberal ones. But recently things have changed. The neo-liberal and austerity measures adopted in Europe through the very last years under the auspices of the mainstream parties and of the EU institutions not only have facilitated a broad rise of Eurosceptic and populistic responses, but also have reshaped the Left field geography, which now has to be reassessed. In addition, the book focuses on to what extent and through which means left parties cooperate at the EU level (and in some cases even integrate) in the shadow of austerity. This study on the multifaceted constellation of European left-wing parties aims at providing a contribution to existing literature in the field. Therefore, it could be of interest to scholars, but also to all those who are fascinated with anticipating the possible evolution of the Anti-Austerity Left in Europe.

€16,00