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New paper with @EPSRjournal on the European People's Party @EPP re their changing voting behaviour on issues of fundamental values/rule of law in the EP @Europarl_EN
Research 2 years in the making with great colleagues @DrLiseHerman @JulianMHoerner https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-political-science-review/article/abs/why-does-the-european-right-accommodate-backsliding-states-an-analysis-of-24-european-peoples-party-votes-20112019/3DD436CD00043EB6C07B0D9896B8BF3D
Research 2 years in the making with great colleagues @DrLiseHerman @JulianMHoerner https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/european-political-science-review/article/abs/why-does-the-european-right-accommodate-backsliding-states-an-analysis-of-24-european-peoples-party-votes-20112019/3DD436CD00043EB6C07B0D9896B8BF3D
The paper attempts to build on great existing research, including but not limited to @rdanielkelemen @MauritsMeijers @ProfPech @ProfKochenov @dfarrell_ucd @simonjhix @mblauberger @duncanmcdonnell
Here's a summary of key findings:
Here's a summary of key findings:
1. Vote cohesion in the @EPP is far lower (on the 24 votes under study b/w 2011-2019) on fundamental values than on any other issue type, indicating substantial disagreement within the party on these issues.
2. This disagreement has intensified over time as EPP MEPs become increasingly likely to vote in favour of resolutions that sanction against fundamental values infringements.
3. Data confirms that @rdanielkelemen and others are correct that the strategic interest of @EPP play a major role in determining voting behhavior. Also confirmed is the role of GAL/TAN ideology in influencing voting behaviour as researched elsewhere by @MauritsMeijers
But the story is complicated further...
4. Voting behaviour is also influenced if an MEP is a member of a national party in governement, suggesting that national party strategic interests is an important factor (e.g. due the need to keep good relations in (European) Council)
4. Voting behaviour is also influenced if an MEP is a member of a national party in governement, suggesting that national party strategic interests is an important factor (e.g. due the need to keep good relations in (European) Council)
5. The degree to which an MEPs member state embodies liberal democratic values (as measured by @vdeminstitute) also matters significantly for that MEPs voting behaviour.
6. Meanwhile, MEPs from the Visegrad countries are much less likely to vote in favour of sanctions on issues of fundamental values. This holds true even for Visegrad MEPs whose national party are not in governement at the time of a vote.
7. The attitute towards European integration held by an MEPs national party also influences whether they are willing to vote in favour of reolutions on fundamental values, with Eurosceptics less likely to vote in favour.
8. A number of conclusions follow from this research. Most interesting perhaps is the encouraging sign that party strategic interests appear to be changable over time, so that they may come to enable action on fundamental values, rather than serve as an obstacle.
9. More worrying perhaps is the important role that ideology plays in resisting action on fundamental values. Ideology "can be" stickier than strategic interests and the composition of the EP has been moving more towards TAN values in the last few elections. End/
