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Impact of Career Paths on MEPs’ Activities

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  • Robert van Geffen

Abstract

The increasing powers of the European Parliament in recent decades have made it a more attractive institution for ambitious politicians keen to build their political career in the EU's multi‐level system. A key contribution to the debate about the career paths of MEPs is made by Scarrow (). Her work, which identified three different career paths taken by MEPs, has been widely cited and used as a basis for other studies on this topic. Building on Scarrow's work, this paper describes two additional categories of MEPs – former national politicians and ‘one‐off’ MEPs – and links MEPs’ careers with their activities in Parliament. It finds that over and above the factors that have previously been identified as influential on an MEP's behaviour, his or her career path and ambitions are relevant in explaining certain legislative behaviour across Member States and party groups.

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  • Robert van Geffen, 2016. "Impact of Career Paths on MEPs’ Activities," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 1017-1032, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jcmkts:v:54:y:2016:i:4:p:1017-1032
    DOI: 10.1111/jcms.12347
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Black, Gordon S., 1972. "A Theory of Political Ambition: Career Choices and the Role of Structural Incentives," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(1), pages 144-159, March.
    2. Abdul Ghafar Noury & Simon Hix & Gérard Roland, 2007. "Democratic politics in the European Parliament," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/7744, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Hobolt, Sara B. & Høyland, Bjørn, 2011. "Selection and Sanctioning in European Parliamentary Elections," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(3), pages 477-498, July.
    4. Bernecker, Andreas, 2014. "Do politicians shirk when reelection is certain? Evidence from the German parliament," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 55-70.
    5. Carrubba, Clifford J. & Gabel, Matthew & Murrah, Lacey & Clough, Ryan & Montgomery, Elizabeth & Schambach, Rebecca, 2006. "Off the Record: Unrecorded Legislative Votes, Selection Bias and Roll-Call Vote Analysis," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 36(4), pages 691-704, October.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Inger Baller, 2017. "Specialists, party members, or national representatives: Patterns in co-sponsorship of amendments in the European Parliament," European Union Politics, , vol. 18(3), pages 469-490, September.

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