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Dimensions of Politics in the European Parliament

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  • Hix, Simon
  • Noury, Abdul
  • Roland, Gerard

Abstract

We investigate the dimensionality of political conflict in the European Parliament by applying scaling method techniques to all roll-call votes between 1979 and 2001 in the European Parliament. Contrary to most existing studies using scaling methods, we are able to interpret the substantive content of the observed dimensions using exogenous measures of national party policy positions. We find that the main dimension of politics in the EU’s only elected institution is the classic left-right dimension found in domestic politics. A second dimension is also present, although to a lesser extent, which is explained by conflicts between the parties in ‘government’ in the EU Council and Commission and the parties in ‘opposition’ in the Parliament.

Suggested Citation

  • Hix, Simon & Noury, Abdul & Roland, Gerard, 2005. "Dimensions of Politics in the European Parliament," Department of Economics, Working Paper Series qt4gb278j5, Department of Economics, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    • Handle: RePEc:cdl:econwp:qt4gb278j5
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Diermeier, Daniel & Feddersen, Timothy J., 1998. "Cohesion in Legislatures and the Vote of Confidence Procedure," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 92(3), pages 611-621, September.
    2. Abdul G. Noury & Gérard Roland, 2002. "More power to the European Parliament? [‘Nice try: Should the Treaty of Nice be ratified’?]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 17(35), pages 279-319.
    3. Schonhardt-Bailey, Cheryl, 2003. "Ideology, Party and Interests in the British Parliament of 1841–47," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(4), pages 581-605, October.
    4. Abdul G. Noury, 2002. "Ideology, Nationality and Euro-Parliamentarians," European Union Politics, , vol. 3(1), pages 33-58, March.
    5. Laver, Michael & Benoit, Kenneth & Garry, John, 2003. "Extracting Policy Positions from Political Texts Using Words as Data," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 97(2), pages 311-331, May.
    6. Voeten, Erik, 2000. "Clashes in the Assembly," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(2), pages 185-215, April.
    7. Poole, Keith T., 2000. "Nonparametric Unfolding of Binary Choice Data," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 211-237, March.
    8. Simon Hix, 2001. "Legislative Behaviour and Party Competition in the European Parliament: An Application of Nominate to the EU," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 663-688, November.
    9. Tsebelis, George & Garrett, Geoffrey, 2001. "The Institutional Foundations of Intergovernmentalism and Supranationalism in the European Union," International Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(2), pages 357-390, April.
    10. repec:oup:ecpoli:v:17:y:2002:i:35:p:279-319 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Abdul Ghafar Noury & Gérard Roland, 2002. "More power to the European Parliament? Should it have more power?," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/254195, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
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