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Available, Accessible and Ready to Listen: MPs’ District Work

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Political Representation in France and Germany

Part of the book series: New Perspectives in German Political Studies ((NPG))

Abstract

To understand parliamentary representation, it is necessary to look both at work in parliament and at MPs’ activities in their constituency. In France and Germany, the district is important for four main reasons: candidates are nominated there, MPs are elected, districts play a role in political decision-making and provide a forum for political communication. However, there is considerable variety in the details, leading to different incentives for MPs in the two countries. Accordingly, expectations about MP behavior are checked with empirical data from CITREP observations and interviews. This shows that, in their district work, German MPs act as information seekers with a clear focus on party work, while French MPs act more like political entrepreneurs who are strongly influenced by their “cumul des mandats”.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Some data and arguments from this chapter on the German case have been reported in Siefken 2013.

  2. 2.

    Survey of 1553 citizens in Germany, random sample, for this question in Germany: N = 1016.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Sven T. Siefken

  2. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sciences-Po, Bordeaux, France

    Olivier Costa

Authors
  1. Sven T. Siefken
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  2. Olivier Costa
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Stuttgart Institute of Social Sciences, Stuttgart, Germany

    Oscar W. Gabriel

  2. CNRS, Centre Emile Durkheim Sciences-Po Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

    Eric Kerrouche

  3. Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle (Saale), Germany

    Suzanne S. Schüttemeyer

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Siefken, S.T., Costa, O. (2018). Available, Accessible and Ready to Listen: MPs’ District Work. In: Gabriel, O., Kerrouche, E., Schüttemeyer, S. (eds) Political Representation in France and Germany. New Perspectives in German Political Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72029-6_3

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