Research on European elections and EU legislative politics offers critical insights into how representative democracy operates in a multi-level political system. European elections and legislative politics continue to evolve, raising new questions about electoral behavior, legislative behavior, and the role of public opinion in shaping EU governance. By bringing together research on elections and legislative politics, the section seeks to advance our understanding of how democratic politics functions in the European Union.
We invite contributions that speak to electoral competition, legislative organization, legislative decision-making, and/or legislative behavior and careers within the context of the EU. Papers can address instances of legislative politics across all EU institutions, as well as comparative work between EU legislative politics and the politics of other national parliaments and transnational legislative settings.
We welcome individual paper submissions and will organize panels to maximize dialogue between early-career and established scholars. Pre-formed panel submissions are also welcome, provided they promote diversity in composition. We maintain a strong commitment to geographic, methodological, and demographic inclusivity.
Panel/paper topics may include (but are not limited to):
Voting behavior, electoral competition and campaigning: The 2024 European elections offered a fresh opportunity to explore voting and campaigning at the EU level. What explains differences in the campaigning and voter behavior across member states and/or over time? How have increases in politicization of Europe and in polarization shaped European elections and their outcomes? What advances in political communication research can be observed through the transnational European campaigns?
Internal legislative organization: How have internal legislative institutions (e.g., committees, delegations, internal leadership) evolved within the European Parliament or in other EU legislative spaces to reflect increased conflict over the course of EU integration? How have national political parties, transnational party federations and/or the European party groups, and institutional leaders changed in response?
European legislative careers: How do we use EU politics to further our knowledge of politicians and legislative carers? How is the EU complicating the political career trajectories of national political systems? How do political parties react to questions of candidate recruitment, selection, and promotion at multiple levels of government? How do EU legislators bring their personal backgrounds, identities, and lived experience to their legislative work?
Legislative behavior and public opinion: What explains responsiveness to electoral outcomes and public opinion? Why do legislative actors interpret their mandates in specific ways? How do European legislators work to represent their constituents, given the lack of a strong representative link in the EU? How should we understand different forms of legislative behavior, from speeches and bargaining to voting, in the EU?
Legislative decision-making: How do intra-institutional decision-making processes work in the Commission, European Parliament and the Council? How does our understanding of legislative priorities and coalition formation help us to explain EU policy outcomes?
