Title

Constituency Pressures on Committee Selection: Evidence from the Northern Ireland Assembly and Dáil Éireann

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

10-1-2017

Publication Title

Parliamentary Affairs

Volume

70

First Page

740

Last Page

758

Keywords

Cartel theory, Committee selection, Constituency pressures, Distributive theory

Abstract

© The Author 2017. Most previous research examining selection to committees assumes constituency pressures-leading representatives to seek committee assignments dealing with their constituents' particularistic interests that improve their re-election prospects-are incompatible with disciplined parties, which may prevent such personal voteseeking behaviour in order to preserve the party's brand. In contrast, we argue parties will support committee assignments promoting members' re-election chances because parties benefit from their members' re-election. Analysing two legislatures with highly disciplined parties and electoral systems encouraging personal vote-seeking-the Northern Ireland Assembly and Dail Eireann-our analysis suggests constituency pressures increase the chances of selection to committees enhancingmembers' re-election prospects.

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