Members of Parliament

Whipped: Party Discipline in Canada examines the hidden ways that political parties exert control over elected members of Canadian legislatures. Drawing on extensive interviews with politicians and staffers across the country, Whipped explains why Members of Parliament and provincial legislators toe the party line, and shows how party discipline has expanded into message discipline. It explores the phenomenon of politicians as brand ambassadors, the role of the party whip, and the inner workings of legislatures. It recounts stories from Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s drive for caucus cohesion in the 1980s through to the turmoil that the SNC-Lavalin crisis wrought on Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party in 2019. From caucus meetings to vote instructions, Whipped exposes how democracy works in our age of instant communication and political polarization. The book conclusively demonstrates that party loyalty usually wins out in Canada. Filled with political tips, Whipped is a must-read for anyone interested in the real world of Canadian politics.

Siyasette İlk Kadın Parlamenterler Dönemi adlı bu yazıda Dünya Kadınlar Günü nedeniyle 1935’te Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi’nde halkın vekilleri arasında yer alan kadınlara ilişkin bilgilere yer verilmiştir. 1935 yılında yapılan genel seçimlerde TBMM’ye giren 17 kadın milletvekili ve 1936’daki ara seçimle giren bir kadın milletvekiliyle birlikte 18 kadın milletvekili ilk kadın parlamenterler olarak tarihimize geçmiştir. Türk kadın tarihinin önemli aktörleri olan parlamenterlere ilişkin albümlerden derlenen bilgiler ve bu bilgilere ilişkin prospografik incelemeler aşağıda yer almaktadır. Bu inceleme kapsamında ilk kadın milletvekilleri; eğitim, meslek, yabancı dil, seçilme yaşları ve yerel yönetimlerde görev alma durumlarına ilişkin bilgiler derlenmiştir.

Cette note propose une évaluation ex-ante de la réduction d’un tiers du nombre de députés en France, annoncée officiellement en juillet 2017 par Emmanuel Macron. Après avoir discuté les différents arguments plutôt infondés soutenant cette réforme, nous envisageons les modalités de sa mise en œuvre qui s’annonce difficile, notamment en raison du découpage électoral. La note propose également une simulation des effets électoraux d’une baisse du nombre de députés concomitante à l’introduction d’une dose de proportionnelle. Au total, l’évaluation ex-ante proposée pointe les difficultés et contradictions soulevées par le projet et la distorsion du lien de représentation qui en résulterait.

Retired military officers often continue to wield significant influence in regimes built after the end of junta rule, sometimes helping to bridge enduring civil-military divides. Myanmar's recent legislative elections offers a counterintuitive case. There has been a rapidly decreasing influence of military retirees in the electoral landscape shaped in the 2010s. I reveal this decline using data on the sociological background of candidates for the 2015 and 2020 elections. Then, building on field interviews with retired officers who ran for office, I offer five explanatory propositions: (1) the depletion of moral capital held by soldiers; (2) military socialisation and the difficulties for veterans to transition to political life, with rivals from other sectors emerging as better equipped; (3) the existence of worthier avenues for power, influence and wealth acquisition; (4) the failure of the authoritarian successor party to manipulate votes and be voted back into office; and (5) the lingering authority and political sway of serving officers. The findings illuminate the persistent insulation from Myanmar society of its active military-even before the 2021 coup-and challenge the claim that veterans can help close the widening gap in Myanmar's civil-military relations.

L’article étudie la réduction du nombre de parlementaires en France, au Portugal et au Royaume-Uni. Il vise à en comprendre le sens grâce à une approche discursive et argumentative comparée, réalisée à partir de l’étude d’un large corpus documentaire. Après avoir constaté les limites des approches rationnelles et mathématiques, l’étude des arguments pour et contre la réforme permet de construire deux référentiels, « décisionniste » et « représentativiste », du rôle du Parlement. La question électorale initiale (du nombre) est transfigurée pour devenir une réforme institutionnelle (du Parlement) dont les enjeux en concurrence sont l’utilité et les fonctions. En démontrant que la question du nombre importe moins que les fonctions et les conséquences que les acteurs politiques attribuent à sa baisse, l’article apporte une contribution à la place des idées dans l’analyse des politiques publiques.

The parliament is often being considered as an unfamiliar ‘world’ to women due to men domination among its members. Despite gender difference, members of parliament (MPs) are expected to play three main roles; as representative, legislators and scrutinizers of government. Most researches focus on the roles of MPs without highlighting the influence of gender in perceiving the elected roles and available parliamentary infrastructure provided for them to fulfil those roles. Hence, this paper attempts to answer the following questions; How do women define their roles as elected MPs? Does the parliament provide them with necessary infrastructure to fulfil their roles? Employing qualitative secondary data collected by MP Watch: Eye on the Parliament Project, the findings reveal five roles as perceived by women MPs; as constituents’ representatives, in parliamentary duties, in constituency outreach, as proxy rulers/administrators and other roles. However, the parliament did not provide adequate infrastructure to them especially in terms of funding, research assistance, and administrative support.

Keywords: women MPs, parliament, perception, elected roles, legislature

Analysis of Kenyan politics that focusses on change and continuity in the structure of the state and in patronage politics, focussing on political corruption, the nature of harambee, and the introduction of the Constituency Development Fund.

This paper examines the core elements and the problems posed by the doctrine contained
in the STC 141/2007, within the framework of the constitutional case-law on the MPs' status. The
article specially focuses on the meaning and nature of the right to constitute a parliamentary
group and the constitutional restrictions to the entrance into force of the reforms of the
parliamentary rules. It also analyses some issues relating the constitutional doctrine on the
modulation of the economical aid perceived by the parliamentary groups, the right to
participate in the parliamentary debates and the problematic effectiveness of the Constitutional
Court's rulings under article 42 LOTC.

This briefing paper provides data on the gender, age, ethnicity and occupational and educational backgrounds of Members of Parliament elected at the 2015 General Election and how this has changed since 1979

> After the 2015 General Election there are 191 women MPs (29% of all MPs). This is the highest number ever. In 1979 there were 19 women MPs, 3% of the total.
> 53% (343) of those elected in 2015 were aged over 50. In the current Parliament the proportion of MPs aged 70 and over increased to nearly 4% (24). The number of MPs aged under 30 declined to 13 (2.0%), compared to 15 (2.3%) in 2010.
> Following the 2015 election, 6% of Members of Parliament are from non-white backgrounds. This compares with 13% of the UK population from a non-white background.

Since 1979, the number of MPs who had been manual workers decreased from around 16% of all MPs in 1979 to 3% in 2015. The proportion of MPs with a background in one of the ‘traditional’ professions has also fallen, from 45% in 1979 to 31% in 2015.

One-third of MPs elected in 2015 went to fee-paying schools. Around three-quarters of MPs elected in 2015 are university graduates.
Of those elected in 2015, 177 (27%) were new to the Parliament. 468 (72%) had been MPs in the previous 2010-15 Parliament, while five were elected in 2015 having previously served in Parliaments prior to 2010.

In modern British politics particular socioeconomic and demographic groups have established an unprecedented presence in government. The overall composition of the House of Commons, however, continues to be highly unrepresentative of society as a whole and this poses serious challenges to Britain’s long-established democratic principles.

Preface;

Part I: Theorizing Public Policy and News Media Representations

>Introduction: some notes on public policy and media;

Chapter 1: Political philosophy;

Chapter 2: Public policy;

Chapter 3: News media representations and discourse of public policy.

Part II: Group Processes and the Media as a Referee in Public Policy Making

>>Introduction: why group processes matter;

>>Chapter 4: When the common good is not so common: group identity motives in public policy making;

>>Chapter 5: Why and when media organizations referee public policy-making;

>>Chapter 6: Group processes among media workers, faulty decision-making processes and effects on public opinion about policy;

References;
Index.

Quelle relation lie un élu à son parti ? Cet ouvrage analyse la dépendance des députés français au parti. Il montre qu'aujourd'hui comme hier, dans une sorte de pacte faustien, les élus se voient offrir par les partis des carrières politiques au long cours, qui ont pour prix une dépendance à laquelle peu d'entre eux échappent. La notion peut paraître triviale tant le destin des élus en France semble lié à leur parti. Elle constitue cependant un enjeu central du fonctionnement d'une démocratie représentative, dès lors que les partis tendent à monopoliser l'accès à la représentation élective et occupent une place déterminante dans l'organisation du travail parlementaire, dont la nature et les variations ont été peu explorées jusqu'à présent. En adhérant à un parti, le député accepte de limiter sa liberté contre une forme de protection. Cependant, dépendance au parti n'est pas synonyme de passivité : les députés, même en situation de contrainte, s'adaptent et sont capables d'intégrer les règles du jeu politique et de les utiliser. Il est essentiel d'analyser ce levier partisan, qui peut déclencher chez les élus des loyautés ou des infidélités, pour comprendre le fonctionnement de l'Assemblée nationale et pour saisir ce qui constitue l'un des déterminants principaux du comportement parlementaire. Aujourd'hui comme hier, les carrières politiques ne peuvent être envisagées que par des personnes maîtrisant les règles du jeu partisan et bénéficiant des ressources d'un parti. Dans une sorte de pacte faustien, les élus se voient offrir par les partis des carrières politiques au long cours, qui ont pour prix une dépendance à laquelle peu d'entre eux échappent.
http://www.editions-ulb.be/fr/book/?GCOI=74530100552870

The Westminster parliament is admittedly a cabinet controlled one. Government’s grip over the Order Paper – the daily schedule of parliamentary business - is a rule. Non-governmental private members from government and opposition parties alike have very limited control over parliamentary agenda. Legislation, budget and scrutiny functions of parliament are primarily government controlled and party dominated. However, the post-World War II modernisation process within the UK House of Commons has yielded some innovative devices that empower individual MPs to question an otherwise reluctant executive. Parliament of Bangladesh, however, presents a rather gloomy and non-progressive trend in this regard.

Politicians are known to be targets for some of the worst abuse on social media, including rape and death threats. But exactly how bad is it? Who gets it worst? And where is this onslaught of negativity taking us?
This article is based on the analysis of all tweets sent as single @messages to British MPs between December 2016 and the general election in June 2017. This dataset of roughly 80,000 tweets was categorised using sentiment analysis software into hostile, disagree and other.
The results show little difference in levels of hostility by gender, race or political party. The major drivers of long-term hostility were
high profile jobs and criticising Corbyn. Incautious public appearances or tweets resulted in major spikes. Scottish politics also proved more aggressive.
The effect of publicity due to high profile jobs on hostility may partly explain the relatively flat relationship between hostility and gender/race, as front bench jobs are more likely to be filled by white men.

Spanish Parliamentary Law has progressively recognized the category of «unaffiliated MPs». However, its constitutionality poses many different problems as both the constitutional concept of political representation and the fundamental right to representative political participation, suggest the image of a Parliament whose members are compulsorily organized in groups whose composition must be in accordance with the political preferences expressed by the citizenry in their election.

L’auteure s’appuie sur un panel exhaustif de blogues politiques français (3 509 sites). Une qualification fine des caractéristiques sociodémographiques des blogueurs, de la politisation de chaque blogueur et d’un ensemble de données attachées à chaque blogue et à l’activité numérique de chaque blogueur a permis d’isoler les blogues en fonction de la position et de l’orientation politique de leurs auteurs. Au total, l’étude porte sur un total de 120 blogues de députées et 312 blogues de députés. À contre-courant des thèses différentialistes en vigueur, l’auteure constate que les députés hommes et femmes ont des pratiques de blogage globalement similaires.

An ongoing theme in the study of elected representatives is how they present themselves to their constituents in order to enhance their re-election prospects, but there are few examples of studies exploring how elected officials present themselves online. This paper addresses this gap by comparing presentation of self by Canadian Members of Parliament (MPs) on parliamentary websites and in the older medium of parliamentary newsletters. It follows Gulati (2004; The International Journal of Press/Politics 9: 22–40) in using nameplate images of MPs in Parliament and their constituencies as proxies for presentations of self as insiders and outsiders, respectively. Specifically, it asks (1) how MPs present themselves online, (2) whether this differs from presentation in newsletters, and (3) what factors explain presentation of self online. The paper finds that MPs are likely to present themselves as outsiders on their websites, that this differs from patterns observed in newsletters, and that party affiliation plays an important role in shaping self-presentation online. The implications of these findings and avenues for future research are discussed.

Olivier Costa et Eric Kerrouche, " Le mandat parlementaire comme profession : les manifestations de la professionnalisation locale des députés ", in Gilles Toulemonde et Emmanuel Cartier (dir.), Le parlement et le temps. Approche comparée, Paris, Institut Universitaire Varenne, 2017, p. 145-166.

Spanish Parliamentary Law has progressively recognized the category of «unaffiliated
MPs». However, its constitutionality poses many different problems as both the
constitutional concept of political representation and the fundamental right to representative
political participation, suggest the image of a Parliament whose members are
compulsorily organized in groups whose composition must be in accordance with the
political preferences expressed by the citizenry in their election.