Vol. 5 (2010) > lreg-2010-3
doi: 10.12942/lreg-2010-3
Living Rev. Euro. Gov. 5 (2010), 3
The aggregating function of political parties in EU decision-making
1 ARENA - Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, Faculty of Social Sciences, P.O. Box 1143, Blindern 0318 Oslo, Norway
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Article Abstract
This Living Review uses concepts of aggregation to analyse what we do and do not know about the contribution of political parties to the politics and democratic performance of the European Union. It suggests that present representative structures are better at aggregating ‘choices of policies’ than ‘choices of leaders’. Much more, however, needs to be done to analyse the causal contribution of party actors to those patterns of aggregation, and to understand why European Union parties do not develop further where aggregation seems to be deficient in the EU arena.
Keywords: MEPs, democracy, European Parliament, legislative procedure, participation, political representation, political parties, European elections
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Article Citation
Since a Living Reviews in European Governance article may evolve over time, please cite the access <date>, which uniquely identifies the version of the article you are referring to:
Christopher J. Lord,
"The aggregating function of political parties in EU decision-making",
Living Rev. Euro. Gov. 5, (2010), 3. URL (cited on <date>):
http://europeangovernance-livingreviews.org/Articles/lreg-2010-3
Article History
| ORIGINAL | http://europeangovernance-livingreviews.org/Articles/lreg-2006-2 |
|---|---|
| Title | The aggregating function of political parties in EU decision-making |
| Author | Christopher J. Lord |
| Date | accepted 15 October 2006, published 9 November 2006 |
| UPDATE | http://europeangovernance-livingreviews.org/Articles/lreg-2010-3 |
| Title | The aggregating function of political parties in EU decision-making |
| Author | Christopher J. Lord |
| Date | accepted 29 May 2010, published 14 September 2010 |
| Changes | This Living Review has been extensively rewritten and restructured to take account of a number of significant developments in the literature and in how the party politics of the European Union work in practice. The reader will discover much new material on the extra-parliamentary European Union parties; on just how far European elections are second-order for political parties; and on the question of whether national parties really do dominate the party groups in the European Parliament without, in turn, being constrained in their relationship to the overall system of party groups. In all, about 50 new references to a fast-developing literature are included. |