TY - JOUR
T1 - Parliamentary Questions as an Instrument for Geographic Representation
T2 - The Hard Case of Portugal
AU - Borghetto, Enrico
AU - Santana-Pereira, José
AU - Freire, André
N1 - UIDB/04627/2020
UIDP/04627/2020
PTDC/IVC-CPO/3921/2012
UID/SOC/03126/2019
PTDC /IVC-C PO/3098/2014
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This article asks whether and why, in a system lacking electoral incentives to cultivate personal votes, MPs might choose to signal to geographic constituents. It explores this question by analysing the number of written parliamentary questions submitted to the Portuguese parliament on two issues – unemployment and crime – between 2009 and 2015, and asking if MPs are more inclined to table questions on specific issues when their districts suffer particularly from related problems. The article finds evidence that constituency-level problem pressure does matter for the signalling activities of MPs, although policy specialization remains the main driver of their issue emphasis. This finding contributes new knowledge to the ongoing debate on the factors accounting for the representative relationship between MPs and constituents, by drawing attention to the importance of district-level problem pressure as one of the drivers of issue sponsorship in parliament.
AB - This article asks whether and why, in a system lacking electoral incentives to cultivate personal votes, MPs might choose to signal to geographic constituents. It explores this question by analysing the number of written parliamentary questions submitted to the Portuguese parliament on two issues – unemployment and crime – between 2009 and 2015, and asking if MPs are more inclined to table questions on specific issues when their districts suffer particularly from related problems. The article finds evidence that constituency-level problem pressure does matter for the signalling activities of MPs, although policy specialization remains the main driver of their issue emphasis. This finding contributes new knowledge to the ongoing debate on the factors accounting for the representative relationship between MPs and constituents, by drawing attention to the importance of district-level problem pressure as one of the drivers of issue sponsorship in parliament.
KW - geographic representation
KW - issue attention
KW - legislative behaviour
KW - Parliamentary questions
KW - Portugal
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85079698008&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=12&SID=E3dwmJO4IyhS3lWL4N6&page=1&doc=1
U2 - 10.1111/spsr.12387
DO - 10.1111/spsr.12387
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85079698008
SN - 1424-7755
VL - 26
SP - 10
EP - 30
JO - Swiss Political Science Review
JF - Swiss Political Science Review
IS - 1
ER -