Skip to main content
Kent Academic Repository

The Bundestag: Institutional Incrementalism and Behavioural Reticence

Saalfeld, Thomas (2003) The Bundestag: Institutional Incrementalism and Behavioural Reticence. In: Dyson, Kenneth and Goetz, Klaus H, eds. Politics of Constraint. Proceedings of the British Academy, 119 . Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 73-96. ISBN 0-19-726295-3. (doi:10.5871/bacad/9780197262955.003.0004) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:954)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided.
Official URL:
http://www.oup.com/uk/catalogue/?ci=9780197262955

Abstract

The article addresses an important paradox in the parliamentary scrutiny of EU legislation in Germany: On the one hand, there is a very broad elite consensus about the importance of European legislation and about the need to ensure proper democratic accountability in the EU. On the other hand, there is a distinctive disinterest in EU legislation in the German Bundestag. Apart from major treaty revisions, Members of the German Bundestag do not invest scarce resources (time and political capital, in particular) to deal with EU policy. In the article I develop a simple but innovative expected-utility model, use comparative statics to simulate the strength of various incentives faced by rational actors dealing with EU legislation and provide some empirical evidence in support the main thesis of this article: The interest in parliamentary scrutiny of EU legislation is low, because its electoral salience is low. In my view the argument as such is not original, but the way it is formally presented is original, better suited to inspire comparative theory-building and more rigorous than in any other publication on this issue I am aware of.

Item Type: Book section
DOI/Identification number: 10.5871/bacad/9780197262955.003.0004
Subjects: J Political Science > JN Political institutions and public administration (Europe)
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Human and Social Sciences > School of Politics and International Relations
Depositing User: Alison Webster
Date Deposited: 19 Dec 2007 18:37 UTC
Last Modified: 09 Mar 2023 11:29 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/954 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Saalfeld, Thomas.

Creator's ORCID:
CReDIT Contributor Roles:
  • Depositors only (login required):

Total unique views for this document in KAR since July 2020. For more details click on the image.