Austria: Individual Talent, Official Functions, and Party Size

Author(s)
Marcelo Jenny, Wolfgang C. Müller
Abstract

A strict time regime keeps the length of debates at bay. While most of the agenda is set by the government, opposition parties can get some proposals debated and new instruments provide room for debate of topics independent of government legislation and reports. Debates are under tight party control with regard to the nomination of speakers and the speakers sticking to the party line. Individual MPs do have electoral incentives to seek speaking assignments, but for most this results in low-level satisficing rather than trying to maximize speaking assignments. Party-size is the most important factor determining the floor presence of MPs: belonging to a small party provides much better chances to speak. Within parties, individual talent of MPs as speakers and their occupation of key party functions such as parliamentary party leader, or party spokesperson in a specific policy area are crucial for nominations.

Organisation(s)
Department of Government
External organisation(s)
Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck
Pages
152-174
No. of pages
22
Publication date
10-2020
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
506014 Comparative politics
Keywords
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/austria-individual-talent-official-functions-and-party-size(0df5898b-5e87-4111-9225-53fa6401184a).html