Analyzing Legislative Politics in Multilevel Settings: New Challenges

Abstract

Analyzing political decision making in multilevel settings poses many challenges. Theory building has to take into account strategic decision-making where relevant constraints may be located at different political levels, e.g. local, state, national or international. Empirical studies are confronted with more difficult data acquisition and more complex political processes than studies operating at a single level. Due to the multilevel structure the complexity of analysis may increase considerably. For example, the legislative process in European member states may stretch for years starting with a Commission proposal followed by parliamentary scrutiny on the national level, and the European legislative process. Once adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, European legislation has to be implemented (in the case of directives) and applied by national actors and courts. A rigorous analysis of such processes requires advanced methodology and innovative research designs, including multilevel statistical modeling, comparative measurement of actor positions, the aggregation of preferences and multilevel bargaining strategies. We welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions that confront these challenges.