EU Elections and Legislative Politics

EU responses to recent global challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic, the subsequent economic shocks, the climate crisis, and the war in Ukraine, have resulted in new policy initiatives and deeper integration across a broad swath of policy arenas, previously believed to primarily be the purview of the Member States. From aspects of health policy to fiscal policy to military arms provisions, the EU has become increasingly active in contested ‘high politics’ policy arenas. This shift underscores the critical importance of democratic representation at the EU level and the centrality of EU elections and legislative politics. This section welcomes papers that examine the theory and practice of electoral competition and legislative politics, including but not limited to the following themes, which speak to ‘sequence’ of representative policy-making, linking voters, parties, and legislative institutions: 1) Political party structures across the EU, including supranational political groups, national and sub-national level parties, and linkages across and among them: How have such party structured responded to recent domestic and foreign policy crises? What new themes, parties, and lines of party competition might be emerging? How have party structures changed their appeals to voters in light of new policy challenges? 2) Electoral competition, at the sub-national, national, and supra-national levels: What are the (new) patterns of voters’ behaviour in response to recent crises? Are voters leading or following political parties and structures in responding to new policy challenges? 3) Internal legislative structures: How are legislative bodies adapting to new patterns of party and electoral competitions? Are (new) lines of competition and/or cooperation emerging within and across legislatures, including at different governance levels? How are national level legislative structures responding to the growing relevance of the EU in policy areas that might have typically been the primary purview of member states? We welcome research from all methodological backgrounds, and particularly encourage contributions that bridge the study of elections, legislatures, and policies in older and newer democracies in the EU.