Parliamentary questions and oversight in the European Union

European Journal of Political Research

Volumn 50, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 53-79

  Proksch, Sven Oliver ^a   Slapin, Jonathan B ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MANNHEIM   (Germany)

^b TRINITY COLLEGE DUBLIN   (Ireland)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 78649771621     PISSN: 03044130     EISSN: 14756765     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2010.01919.x     Document Type: Article

References (66)

1. Auel, K. (2007). Democratic accountability and national parliaments: Redefining the impact of parliamentary scrutiny in EU affairs. European Law Journal 13(4): 487-504.
2. Auel, K. & Rittberger, B. (2006). Fluctuant nec merguntur: The European Parliament, national parliaments and European integration. In J. Richardson (ed.), European Union: Power and policy-making. London: Routledge.
3. Bale, T. & Van Biezen, I. (eds). (2008). Political data in 2007. European Journal of Political Research 47(7-8): 877-891.
4. Bergman, T. (1997). National parliaments and EU affairs committees: Notes on empirical variation and competing explanations. Journal of European Public Policy 4(3): 373-387.
5. Bergman, T. (2000). The European Union as the next step of delegation and accountability. European Journal of Political Research 37(3): 415-429.
6. Bergman, T. et al. (2003). Democratic delegation and accountability: Cross-national patterns. In K. Strøm, W.C. Müller & T. Bergman (eds), Delegation and accountability in parliamentary democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
7. Bowler, S. & Farrell, D. (1993). Legislator shirking and voters monitoring: Impacts of European Parliament electoral systems upon legislator-voter relationships. Journal of Common Market Studies 31(1): 45-69.
8. Bowler, S. & Farrell, D.M. (1995). The organizing of the European Parliament: Committees, specialization and co-ordination. British Journal of Political Science 25(2): 219-243.
9. Cameron, A.C. & Trivedi, P.K. (1998). Regression analysis of count data. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
10. Corbett, R., Jacobs, F. & Shackleton, M. (2007). The European Parliament, 7th edn. London: John Harper.
11. Epstein, D. & O'Halloran, S. (1996). Divided government and the design of administrative procedures: A formal model and empirical test. Journal of Politics 58(2): 373-397.
12. Epstein, D. & O'Halloran, S. (1999). Delegating powers: A transaction cost politics approach to policy making under separate powers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
13. Euractiv. (2008). Silly questions prompt reform of parliament rules. Euractiv, 18 April. Available online at:
14. Franchino, F. (2000). The Commission's executive discretion, information and comitology. Journal of Theoretical Politics 12: 155-181.
15. Franchino, F. (2005). A formal model of delegation in the European Union. Journal of Theoretical Politics 17(2): 217-247.
16. Franchino, F. (2007). The powers of the union: Delegation in the EU. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
17. Franklin, M.N. & Norton, P. (eds). (1993). Parliamentary questions. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
18. Hix, S. (2002). Constitutional agenda setting through discretion in rule interpretation: Why the European Parliament won at Amsterdam. British Journal of Political Science 32: 259-280.
19. Hix, S. (2004). Electoral institutions and legislative behavior: Explaining voting defection in the european parliament. World Politics 56: 194-223.
20. Hix, S. (2005). The political system of the European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
21. Hix, S. & Marsh, M. (2007). Punishment or protest? Understanding European Parliament elections. Journal of Politics 69(2): 495-510.
22. Hix, S., Noury, A. & Roland, G. (2007). Democratic politics in the European Parliament. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
23. Holzhacker, R. (2002). National parliamentary scrutiny over EU issues: Comparing the goals and methods of governing and opposition parties. European Union Politics 3(4): 459-479.
24. Holzhacker, R. (2005). The power of opposition parliamentary party groups in European scrutiny. Journal of Legislative Studies 11(3-4): 428-445.
25. Hooghe, L. et al. (2008). Reliability and Validity of Measuring Party Positions: The Chapel Hill Expert Surveys of 2002 and 2006. Unpublished Manuscript.
26. Høyland, B., Sircar, I. & Hix, S. (2009). An automated database of the European Parliament. European Union Politics 10(1): 143-152.
27. Huber, J.D. (1996). The vote of confidence in parliamentary democracies. American Political Science Review 90(2): 269-282.
28. Huber, J.D. & Shipan, C.R. (2002). Deliberate discretion: The institutional foundations of bureaucratic autonomy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
29. Independent. (2004). Kilroy-Silk promises guerrilla campaign to wreck work of European Parliament. The Independent, 15 June.
30. Jackman, S. (2008). pscl: Classes and methods for R developed in the Political Science Computational Laboratory, Stanford University. Department of Political Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California. R package version 1.03.
31. Joerges, C. & Neyer, J. (1997a). From intergovernmental bargaining to deliberative political process: The constitutionalization of comitology. European Law Review 3: 273-299.
32. Joerges, C. & Neyer, J. (1997b). Transforming strategic interaction into deliberative problem-solving: European comitology in the foodstuffs sector. Journal of European Public Policy 4: 609-625.
33. Judge, D. & Earnshaw, D. (2003). The European Parliament. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
34. Kiewiet, D.R. & McCubbins, M. (1991). The logic of delegation: Congressional parties and the appropriation process. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
35. Krehbiel, K. (1991). Information and legislative organization. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
36. Marsh, M. (1998). Testing the second-order election model after four European elections. British Journal of Political Science 28: 591-607.
37. Martin, L.W. & Vanberg, G. (2005). Coalition policymaking and legislative review. American Political Science Review 99(1): 93-106.
38. Martin, L.W. & Vanberg, G. (2008). Coalition government and political communication. Political Research Quarterly 61: 502-516.
39. Mattson, I. & Strøm, K. (1995). Parliamentary committees. In H. Döring (ed.), Parliaments and majority rule in Western Europe. New York: St Martins Press.
40. McCubbins, M. & Schwartz, T. (1984). Congressional oversight overlooked: Police patrols versus fire alarms. American Journal of Political Science 28: 165-179.
41. McCubbins, M., Noll, R. & Weingast, B. (1987). Adminstrative procedures as instruments of political control. Journal of Law, Economics and Organization 3: 243-277.
42. McCubbins, M., Noll, R. & Weingast, B. (1989). Structure and process, policy and politics: Administrative arrangements and the political control of agencies. Virginia Law Review 75: 431-482.
43. McElroy, G. (2006). Committee representation in the European Parliament. European Union Politics 7: 5-29.
44. Meyer, C. (1999). Political legitimacy and the invisibility of politics: Exploring the European Union's communication deficit. European Journal of Political Research 37(4): 617-639.
45. Müller, W.C., Bergman, T. & Strøm, K. (2003). Parliamentary democracy: Promise and problems. In K. Strøm, W. C. Müller & T. Bergman (eds), Delegation and accountability in parliamentary democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
46. Niskanen, W.A. (1971). Bureaucracy and representative government. Chicago IL: Aldine-Atherton.
47. Pahre, R. (1997). Endogenous domestic institutions in two-level games and parliamentary oversight of the European Union. Journal of Conflict Resolution 41(1): 147-174.
48. Peter, J., Semetko, H.A. & De Vreese, C.H. (2003). EU politics on television news. European Union Politics 4(3): 305-327.
49. Pollack, M.A. (1997). Delegation, agency and agenda setting in the European Community. International Organization 51(1): 99-134.
50. Pollack, M.A. (2002). The engines of European integration: Delegation, agency and agenda setting in the European Union. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
51. Pollack, M.A. (2003). Control mechanism or deliberative democracy? Two images of comitology. Comparative Political Studies 36(1/2): 125-155.
52. Rasch, B.E. (1994). Question time in the Norwegian storting: Theoretical and empirical considerations. In M. Wiberg (ed.), Parliamentary control in the Nordic countries: Forms of questioning and behavioural trends. Helsinki: Finnish Political Science Association.
53. Raunio, T. (1996). Parliamentary questions in the European Parliament: Representation, information and control. Journal of Legislative Studies 2(4): 356-382.
54. Raunio, T. (2005). Holding governments accountable in European affairs: Explaining cross-national variation. Journal of Legislative Studies 11(3-4): 319-342.
55. Reif, K. & Schmitt, H. (1980). Nine second-order national elections: A conceptual framework for the analysis of European election results. European Journal of Political Research 8(1): 3-45.
56. Saalfeld, T. (2000). Members of parliament and governments in Western Europe: Agency relations and problems of oversight. European Journal of Political Research 37(3): 353-376.
57. Salmond, R. (2009). Parliamentary Question Times: How Legislative Accountability Mechanisms Affect Mass Political Engagement. Working Paper, University of Michigan.
58. Schusterschitz, G. & Kotz, S. (2007). The comitology reform of 2006. European Constitutional Law Review 3: 68-90.
59. Thies, M.F. (2001). Keeping tabs on partners: The logic of delegation in coalition governments. American Journal of Political Science 45(3): 580-598.
60. Tsebelis, G. & Garrett, G. (2001). The institutional foundations of intergovernmentalism and supranationalism in the European Union. International Organization 55(2): 357-390.
61. Warntjen, A., Hix, S. & Crombez, C. (2008). The party political make-up of EU legislative institutions, 1979-2004. Journal of European Public Policy 15(8): 1243-1253.
62. Weingast, B. & Moran, M. (1983). Bureaucratic discretion or congressional control? Regulatory policy-making by the Federal Trade Commission. Journal of Political Economy 91: 765-800.
63. Wiberg, M. (1995). Parliamentary questioning: Control by communication? In H. Doring (ed.), Parliaments and majority rule in Western Europe. New York: St Martins Press.
64. Wiberg, M. & Koura, A. (1994). The logic of parliamentary questioning. In M. Wiberg (ed.), Parliamentary control in the Nordic countries: Forms of questioning and behavioural trends. Helsinki: Finnish Political Science Association.
65. Wonka, A. & Rittberger, B. (2009). The Return of the Party: National Political Parties in the EU Multi-level System. Paper presented at the European Union Studies Association 11th Biennial Conference, 23-25 April 2009, Los Angeles, USA.
66. Zeileis, A., Kleiber, C. & Jackman, S. (2008). Regression models for count data in R. Journal of Statistical Software 27(8). Available online at: