Bulletin n. 2-3/2013
February 2014
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Mickler Tim Alexander
    Standing Committee Assignments in the German Bundestag – Who Gets What in Within-Party Negotiations?
    in German Politics , Volume 22, Issue 4 ,  2013 ,  421-440
    Standing committees play a vital role in the policy-making process of modern parliaments. This study investigates the assignment criteria of standing committee members in the 17th Bundestag by applying congressional theories of legislative organisation to the German case. The statistical analysis shows that MPs often join the same committees that they have been members of in prior legislative periods. While prior occupation/education and affiliation to interest groups only partially explain the distribution, interviews with whips and secretaries in Berlin show that regional factions and the political reputation of the MP play a major role in the assignment process. Parties monitor carefully whether committees are staffed with preference outliers during the assignment process while partisan considerations are hardly evident. This is strong evidence for the claim of informational theory of legislative organisation which highlights the information-processing character of committees.
    ©2001 - 2020 - Centro Studi sul Federalismo - P. IVA 94067130016