00 obsah 15.3.2005 8:25 Page 1 Central European Parliaments: First Decade of Democratic Experience and the Future Prospective 00 obsah 15.3.2005 8:25 Page 2 This publication was supported by the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic under the research project „Documentary Center for Parliamentary Research“ registration number S7028003. This publication was supported by the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic under the research program „ The Program of Development of Basic Research in the Key Areas of Science “ registration number K9058117. Published by Institute of Sociology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague 2004. First edition © Zdenka Mansfeldová, David M. Olson, Petra Raku‰anová (editors.) ISBN 80-7330-067-2 00 obsah 15.3.2005 8:25 Page 3 Central European Parliaments: First Decade of Democratic Experience and the Future Prospective 00 obsah 15.3.2005 8:25 Page 4 ContentsContents Preface Zdenka Mansfeldová, David M. Olson, Petra Raku‰anová . 6 Section I. Parliamentary Research Agenda Members of the German Bundestag in Perspective: Recruitment, Representation, and European Integration across Time and Countries Bernhard Wessels . 10 The Politics between Parliament and Government – the Institutional Framework and the Reality within the Czech Parliament Zdenka Mansfeldová . 28 Section II. Parliaments and the Processes of Globalization and Europeaniazation Parliaments of Central and Eastern European Candidate Countries and the EU Enlargement Jindfii‰ka Syllová, Petr Koláfi. 48 Changing Functions of National Parliaments Drago Zajc. 60 Measuring and Comparing the Powers of Legislatures Edward Schneier. 76 4 00 obsah 15.3.2005 8:25 Page 5 Section III. The Role of Political Parties in the Parliaments Party and Committee: Intersecting Structures in Post-Communist Parliaments David M. Olson. 88 The More Parties Vote and the Bigger Their Majority is, the Less United They Are LukበLinek, Petra Raku‰anová . 102 Cabinet Stability in Post-Communist Democratic Legislature Nikolenyi Csaba . 120 Party Unity in German Parliaments Werner Patzelt . 138 Section IV. Legislative Recruitment Moldovan Legislative Elites in Transition William Crowther . 156 Recruitment of the Parliamentary Elite in the Course of the Nineties Adéla Seidlová . 172 Career Patterns and Career Preferences of Romanian MPs Stefan Laurentiu. 184 The Central Core in the Hungarian Parliament András Schwarz . 202 Beyond the First Decade: Research Directions in Post-Communist Parliaments David M. Olson . 216 Abstracts . 234 About authors . 240 5 01 preface 15.3.2005 8:25 Page 6 Preface Preface arliamentary studies in Central and Eastern Europe analysing the first P decade of democratic development have focused on national parliaments, the institutionalisation of democratic parliaments and the creation of new parlia- mentary elites. It is clear from a number of publications and scientific debates that research instruments used by individual national teams do not allow more than partial comparison both among countries of Central and Eastern Europe and in a pan-European context. The “Sociology of Politics” research department at the Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and the project group “Parliamentary Documentation and Information Center”, which for the past five years have concentrated on the study of the Czech Parliament in particular, and also on the creation of an information base on Central and Eastern European parliaments, have reached the conclusion that the time has come to summarise and assess the decade of research conducted by the Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, and other scientific institutions in Central and Eastern European countries, and to define research priorities for the next decade in view of EU enlargement and the changing par- liamentary agenda. These considerations, which have taken a more concrete shape in exchanges with the International Political Science Association (IPSA) Research Committee of Legislative Specialists, have resulted in an international workshop “Central European Parliaments: First Decade of Democratic Experience and the Future Prospective” held in Prague, Czech Republic, in November 2003. The workshop brought together researchers from eight countries from Central and Eastern European countries, Germany, Canada and the United States, who are engaged in parliamentary studies dealing with Central and Eastern Europe. The work- shop was also opened to members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, its staff (first of all, the Parliamentary Institute), and grad- uate as well as doctoral students. The main objective of the workshop was to gather scholars engaged in field research, and to go beyond the isolated research studies on national parlia- ments and their actors that dominated the past decade of research by launch- ing international co-operative investigations in the next decade and to assess priorities in parliamentary research for the forthcoming years. Based on the current trends in the Czech Parliament and on existing research, attention was primarily paid to the role of the parliaments in the new EU member states in the context of changes in the parliamentary agenda, the role of individual par- 6 01 preface 15.3.2005 8:25 Page 7 liaments, and possible links between national parliaments and the European Parliament. The present edited volume contains most of the presented contributions and a concluding paper by D. M. Olson, summarising the ideas and results of the round table titled Possibilities of Cooperation and Co-ordination of Comparative Research. At the round table, the workshop participants discussed the role of individual parliaments, possible links between national parliaments and the European Parliament, and attempted to assess priorities in parliamentary research in the forthcoming years and to identify new strategies for further research. The volume is divided into four sections. The first section, Parliamentary Research Agenda, presents current findings in empirical research studies on parliaments and parliamentarians in Central Europe and Germany. Bernhard Weßels presents the results of a longitudinal comparative study of German members of the Parliament and members of the European Parliament. Zdenka Mansfeldová concentrates on a description and analysis of the institutional framework and policy relations between the Czech Parliament and the government. The second section, Parliaments and the Processes of Globalisation and Europeanisation, concentrates on the changing role and position of national par- liaments in the twin processes of transformation and globalisation. Petr Koláfi and Jindri‰ka Syllová describe the role played by parliaments in the candidate countries in the process of EU enlargement. Drago Zajc presents a comparative analysis of the changing functions of national parliaments after the accession to the EU and implications of the enlargement for the development of Central and Eastern European parliaments in the near future. Edward Schneier offers a look at possible comparative outlines concerning the scope of legislative powers between post-communist parliaments and parliaments with similar experience outside the region. The third section, The Role of Political Parties in the Parliaments, concen- trates on re-establishing research on political parties and their role in parlia- ments. David M. Olson provides an overview of the role of political parties in the organisation of parliaments with special attention paid to the relationship between parliamentary party groups and committees in Central and Eastern European parliaments. Petra Raku‰anová and LukበLinek introduce a case study of Czech parliamentary party groups with respect to party unity and party cohesion. Csaba Nikolenyi examines coalition stability in new democracies using rational choice theory. Werner J. Patzelt elaborates an explanatory model of party discipline in German parliaments and analyses its application to inter- national comparative studies. The last section, Legislative Recruitment, concentrates on changes in legisla- tive recruitment and career patterns. William Crowther presents results of his analysis of legislative recruitment in Romania and Moldova; Adéla Seidlová examines recruitment patterns in the parliamentary elite in the Czech Republic in the course of the 1990s. Stefan Laurentiu presents results of a survey on 7 01 preface 15.3.2005 8:25 Page 8 Romanian MPs, analysing their career patterns as well as career preferences. András Schwarz examines experienced MPs in the Hungarian Parliament and describes the central core in the parliament. We would like to acknowledge the contribution of Ellen Olson who has undertaken to edit the collected texts and to whom the editors and authors owe much for improving the attractiveness and quality their texts. We thank the Center for Legislative Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and its Managers, Diane Elliot and D. Clinton Perkins, for their research assis- tance and computer support. We would also like to express our gratitude to JUDr. Jan Kysela from the Senate of the Czech Republic, thanks to whom researchers were able to discuss their parliamentary research and to gain immediate access to the object of their research; a visit at the Senate of the Parliament of the CR and discussion with Senate Speaker Petr Pithart. We would also like to thank our collaborators from the Office of the Parliament of the CR, especially the head of the Office