Committees and Party Cohesion in the European Parliament

Abstract

How do political parties enforce party discipline and promote cohesiveness in newly emerging legislatures? Political parties in established parliamentary democracies typically exhibit such high levels of unity that the question of how and why such discipline arises has, until recently, received little attention. But in emerging legislatures the process of transforming rudimentary party organisations into disciplined parties is not inevitable. This article examines if the political groups in the European Parliament (EP) attempt to enforce party discipline. More specifically, the article asks the question if MEPs who consistently vote against the party are punished in terms of their committee assignments.