How to Get Information Out of Members of Parliament (Without Being Told Off by the Speaker)

2021 ◽  
pp. 147892992110421
Author(s):  
Philip Cowley
Keyword(s):  
Golden Rule ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Gain Access

Based on experience of over 1000 interviews with British members of parliament, this article explains why members of parliament are difficult to get access to; offers tips to gain access to them, as well as ideas for how to get the most of out of them once they have agreed. It sets out one Golden Rule of dealing with political elites and also discusses the problems of attempting surveys.

Why Politicians Are More Tolerant: Selective Recruitment and Socialization Among Political Elites in Britain, Israel, New Zealand and the United States

1993 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Sullivan ◽  
Pat Walsh ◽  
Michal Shamir ◽  
David G. Barnum ◽  
James L. Gibson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Personality Characteristics ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Tolerance ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Public ◽  
Members Of Parliament

In this article, we present data showing that national legislators are more tolerant than the public in Britain, Israel, New Zealand and the United States. Two explanations for this phenomenon are presented and assessed. The first is the selective recruitment of Members of Parliament, Knesset and Congress from among those in the electorate whose demographic, ideological and personality characteristics predispose them to be tolerant. Although this process does operate in all four countries, it is insufficient to explain all of the differences in tolerance between elites and the public in at least three countries. The second explanation relies on a process of explicitly political socialization, leading to differences in tolerance between elites and their public that transcend individual-level, personal characteristics. Relying on our analysis of political tolerance among legislators in the four countries, we suggest how this process of political socialization may be operating.

scholarly journals Policy Congruence in a Competitive Authoritarian Regime: Learning from the Angolan Case

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Maria Belchior ◽  
Edalina Rodrigues Sanches ◽  
Gildo Matias José
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Golden Rule ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Relevant Factor ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Democratic Regimes ◽  
Dominant Parties

Building on the theoretical proposition that congruence is as much a property to be measured in authoritarian regimes as it is in democratic regimes, the aim of this article is to understand the phenomenon of ideological and political congruence in Angola. To carry out this analysis, we rely on two original surveys, conducted in 2012 with members of parliament (MPs) and college students (voters), covering equivalent policy issues. The results, to some extent exploratory, suggest moderate levels of congruence between MPs and voters. This article contributes to the existing scholarship through a case study that escapes a golden rule in this field – i.e., it is not a democracy. Moreover, it features congruence as a potentially relevant factor in understanding dominant parties’ persistence in authoritarian settings.

Parlamentarier als Beruf

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Reiher
Keyword(s):  
Career Paths ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Political Careers ◽  
Extensive Data ◽  
Theoretical Part ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recruitment Patterns

The fact that politics has become a profession is inferred in the theoretical part of this work and substantiated in the empirical part with extensive data. Within its institutional framework, political professionalisation has led to the social figure of the professional politician. From the author's point of view, it is remarkable that the trend towards this professionalisation has not led to significant changes in the recruitment patterns and career paths of members of parliament. On the contrary, Herzog’s career types still prove valid today and have only had to be moderately refined. This shows an astonishing continuity in the formation of political elites. Germany’s very stable institutional framework, which determines access to and the attractiveness of political careers, has obviously also led to the stabilisation of career types.

Segregation, Ethnic Favoritism, and the Strategic Targeting of Local Public Goods

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (9) ◽  
pp. 1111-1143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Ejdemyr ◽  
Eric Kramon ◽  
Amanda Lea Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Local Public Goods ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Ethnic Segregation ◽  
Public Goods Provision ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Water Wells

This article demonstrates that ethnic segregation is a key determinant of local public goods provision. We argue that this results from politicians’ strategic engagement in ethnic favoritism: Only when ethnic groups are sufficiently segregated can elites efficiently target coethnics with local public goods. We test this expectation with fine-grained data from Malawi on the spatial distribution of ethnic groups, geolocated distributive goods (water wells), and the ethnic identities of political elites. We find that members of parliament provide more local public goods to their electoral districts when ethnic groups are geographically segregated but that this increased investment is primarily targeted toward coethnics. Thus, while segregation promotes overall public goods provision, it also leads to greater favoritism in the distribution of these goods. Our logic and evidence provide an elite-driven explanation for both the considerable variation in ethnic favoritism across contexts and the underprovision of public goods in ethnically diverse settings.

scholarly journals Making comprehensible speeches when your constituents need it

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 205316801879559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nick Lin ◽  
Moritz Osnabrügge
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
Communication Strategies ◽  
Effective Communication ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Linguistic Skills ◽  
German Bundestag

Parliamentary speech is a prominent avenue that political elites can use in parliament to communicate with the electorate. However, we have little understanding of how exactly Members of Parliament craft their speeches to communicate with the districts they represent. We expect that Members of Parliament adapt the comprehensibility of their speeches to their constituents’ linguistic skills since doing so facilitates effective communication. Using parliamentary speeches from the German Bundestag, we reveal that Members of Parliament tend to make their speeches less complicated when their constituents are relatively poor, less educated, and come from an immigration background. Our findings have important implications for the study of political representation and communication strategies.

The Social Structure of the National Assembly in Kenya, 1963–83

1989 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Hornsby
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Period ◽  
Basic Knowledge ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Class Relations ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Political Relations ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Background ◽  
Party State

The study of elections and parliamentary behaviour in Africa has become a neglected topic. Whilst the emergence of political élites during and after the colonial period has been examined carefully, little attention has been paid to the structure and functioning of the modern one-party state. Emphasis has tended to shift towards the analysis of political economy and of the nature of class relations, partly as a consequence of the close linkages between economic and political relations within developing states. However, studies of post-1969 politics in Kenya are now scarce, and basic knowledge of the operation of the political system is often absent. In order to help redress the balance, this article presents and analyses data about the socio-economic background of the Members of Parliament.

High-Vacuum Evaporation and a Cryostage to Observe Fractured Yeast

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 256-257
Author(s):  
William P. Wergin ◽  
Eric F. Erbe ◽  
Eugene L. Vigil
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Standard Specimen ◽  
High Vacuum ◽  
Specimen Holder ◽  
Sputter Coating ◽  
Fresh Frozen ◽  
Gain Access ◽  
Scanning Electron ◽  
Transfer Device

Investigators have long realized the potential advantages of using a low temperature (LT) stage to examine fresh, frozen specimens in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). However, long working distances (W.D.), thick sputter coatings and surface contamination have prevented LTSEM from achieving results comparable to those from TEM freeze etch. To improve results, we recently modified techniques that involve a Hitachi S570 SEM, an Emscope SP2000 Sputter Cryo System and a Denton freeze etch unit. Because investigators have frequently utilized the fractured E face of the plasmalemma of yeast, this tissue was selected as a standard for comparison in the present study.In place of a standard specimen holder, a modified rivet was used to achieve a shorter W.D. (1 to -2 mm) and to gain access to the upper detector. However, the additional height afforded by the rivet, precluded use of the standard shroud on the Emscope specimen transfer device. Consequently, the sample became heavily contaminated (Fig. 1). A removable shroud was devised and used to reduce contamination (Fig. 2), but the specimen lacked clean fractured edges. This result suggested that low vacuum sputter coating was also limiting resolution.

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