Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T02:19:48.275Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Globalizing Electoral Politics: Political Competence and Distributional Bargaining in the European Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2013

Christina J. Schneider
Christina J. Schneider*
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego, Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

This article analyzes electoral cycles in distributional bargaining in the European Union. The author argues that governments attempt to increase their EU membership benefits above average levels in the preelection period, hoping to appear politically competent to voters. The theory discusses when and how EU members can increase these gains before elections through negotiations in the Council of Ministers. A time-series cross-sectional analysis of EU member states’ annual budget negotiations from 1977 to 2006 supports the existence of conditional electoral cycles in distributional bargaining and generally points to the importance of accounting for such cycles when analyzing patterns of international cooperation.

Type
Research Article
Information
World Politics , Volume 65 , Issue 3 , July 2013 , pp. 452 - 490
Copyright
Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Achen, Christopher H. 2006. “Evaluating Political Decision-Making Models.” In Thomson, Robert, Stokman, Frans N., Achen, Christopher H., and König, Thomas, eds., The European Union Decides. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Aksoy, Deniz. 2010. “Who Gets What, When, and How Revisited: Voting and Proposal Powers in the Allocation of the EU Budget.” European Union Politics 11, no. 2: 171–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aksoy, Deniz, and Rodden, Jonathan. 2009. “Getting into the Game: Legislative Bargaining, Distributive Politics, and EU Enlargement.” Public Finance and Management 9, no. 4: 613–43.Google Scholar
Alt, James E., and Lassen, David Dreyer. 2006. “Transparency, Political Participation, and Political Budget Cycles in OECD Countries.” American Journal of Political Science 50, no. 3: 530–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brender, Adi, and Drazen, Allan. 2005. “Political Budget Cycles in New versus Established Democracies.” Journal of Monetary Economics 52, no. 7: 1271–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, Bruce, and Stokman, Frans N.. 1994. Twelve into One: Models of Decision-Making in the European Community. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carrubba, Clifford J. 1997. “Net Financial Transfers in the European Union: Who Gets What and Why?” Journal of Politics 59, no. 2: 469–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Christina L. 2004. “International Institutions and Issue Linkage: Building Support for Agricultural Trade Liberalization.” American Political Science Review 98, no. 1: 153–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Vries, Catherine E. 2010. “EU Issue Voting: Asset or Liability? How European Integration Affects Parties' Electoral Fortunes.” European Union Politics 1, no. 1: 89–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreher, Axel. 2003. “The Influence of Elections on IMF Program Interruptions.” Journal of Development Studies 39, no. 6: 101–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreher, Axel, and Vaubel, Roland. 2004. “Do IMF and IBRD Cause Moral Hazard and Political Business Cycles? Evidence from Panel Data.” Open Economies Review 15: 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
EU Commission. 1999. “Interinstitutional Agreement of 6 May 1999 between the European Parliament, the Council, and the Commission of Budgetary Discipline and Improvement of the Budgetary Procedure.” Official Journal of the European Communities, 1999/C 172/01.Google Scholar
Financial Times. 1998. “Bonn's EU funding will soon be tested.” September 29: 3.Google Scholar
Financial Times. 2002. “Paying for a bigger Europe: EU members are united over enlargement but divided over how it should be financed.” February 11: 23.Google Scholar
Franklin, Mark, and Wlezien, Christoper. 1997. “The Responsive Public: Issue Salience, Policy Change, and Preferences for European Unification.” Journal of Theoretical Politics 9, no. 3: 347–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Franzese, Robert J. 2002. “Electoral and Partisan Cycles in Economic Policies and Outcomes.” Annual Review of Political Science 5: 369–421.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gable, Matthew J. 2000. “European Integration, Voters, and National Politics.” West European Politics 23, no. 4: 52–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, Ernst. 1958. The Uniting of Europe. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Hallerberg, Mark, de Souza, Lucio Vinhas, and Clark, William R.. 2002. “Political Business Cycles in EU Accession Countries.” European Union Politics 3, no. 2: 231–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes-Renshaw, Fiona, and Wallace, Helen. 2006. The Council of Ministers. Houndmills, UK: Palgrave Macmillan Press Ltd.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heisenberg, Dorothee. 2005. “The Institution of ‘Consensus’ in the European Union: Formal versus Informal Decision-Making in the Council.” European Journal of Political Research 44, no. 1: 65–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hix, Simon. 1998. “The Study of the European Union II: The ‘New Governance’ Agenda and Its Rival.” Journal of European Public Policy 5, no. 1: 38–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hix, Simon, and Follesdal, Andreas. 2006. “Why There Is a Democratic Deficit in the EU: A Response to Majone and Moravcsik.” Journal of Common Market Studies 44, no. 3: 533–62.Google Scholar
Hudec, Robert. 1993. Enforcing International Trade Law: The Evolution of the Modern GATT Legal System. Salem, N.H.: Butterworth.Google Scholar
Hug, Simon, and König, Thomas. 2002. “In View of Ratification: Governmental Preferences and Domestic Constraints at the Amsterdam Intergovernmental Conference.” International Organization 56, no. 2: 447–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kayser, Mark A. 2006. “Trade and the Timing of Elections.” British Journal of Political Science 36, no. 3: 437–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kayser, Mark A., and Wlezien, Christopher. 2011. “Performance Pressure: Patterns of Partisanship and the Economic Vote.” European Journal of Political Research 50, no. 3: 365–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
König, Thomas, and Slapin, Jonathan B.. 2006. “From Unanimity to Consensus: An Analysis of the Negotiations at the EU's Constitutional Convention.” World Politics 58, no. 3 (April): 413–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laffan, Brigid. 1999. “The Berlin Summit: Process and Outcome of the Agenda 2000 Budgetary Proposals.” European Community Studies Association Review 12, no. 4: 6–8.Google Scholar
Le Cacheux, Jacques. 2008. “European Budget. The Poisonous Budget Rebate Debate.” Working Paper no. 41. Paris, France: Notre Europe Etudes & Recherches.Google Scholar
Lewis, Jeffrey. 1998. “Is the Hard Bargaining Image of the Council Misleading? The Committee of Permanent Representatives and the Local Election Directive.” Journal of Common Market Studies 36, no. 4: 479–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindner, Johannes. 2006. Conflict and Changes in Budgetary Politics. New York, N.Y.: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattila, Mikko. 2006. “Fiscal Transfers and Redistribution in the European Union: Do Smaller Member States Get More than their Share?” Journal of European Public Policy 13, no. 1: 34–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mattila, Mikko, and Lane, Jan-Erik. 2001. “Why Unanimity in the Council? A Roll-Call Analysis of Council Voting.” European Union Politics 2, no. 1: 31–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McIver, Iain. 2008. “The European Union Budget Review.” spice Briefing Paper no. 08/50. Edinburgh, U.K.: Scottish Parliament Information Center.Google Scholar
Moravcsik, Andrew. 1991. “Negotiating the Single European Act: National Interests and Conventional Statecraft in the European Community.” International Organization 45, no. 1: 19–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Müller, Wolfgang C., and Strom, Kaare. 2000. Coalition Governments in Western Europe. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osterloh, Steffen. 2011. “Can Regional Transfers Buy Public Support? Evidence from EU Structural Policy.” zew Discussion Paper no. 11-011. Mannheim, Germany: Center for European Economic Research.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Persson, Torsten, and Tabellini, Guido. 2002. Political Economics: Explaining Economic Policy. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Rodden, Jonathan. 2002. “Strength in Numbers? Representation and Redistribution in the European Union.” European Union Politics 3, no. 2: 151–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sbragia, Alberta M. 1994. “From ‘Nation State’ to ‘Member State’: The Evolution of the European Community.” In Lützeler, Paul Michael, ed., Europe after Maastricht: American and European Perspectives. New York, N.Y.: Berghahn Books: 69–87.Google Scholar
Schmitt, Hermann, Scholz, Evi, Leim, Iris, and Moschner, Meinhard. 2005. “The Mannheim Eurobarometer Trend File, 1970–2002.” Prepared by Zentralarchiv für Europäische Sozialforschung und Zentrum für Umfragen, Methoden und Analysen.Google Scholar
Schneider, Christina J. 2011. “Weak States and Institutionalized Bargaining Power in International Organizations.” International Studies Quarterly 55, no. 2: 1–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, Christina J., and Urpelainen, Johannes. 2013. “Partisan Heterogeneity and International Cooperation: The Case of the European Development Fund.” Journal of Conflict Resolution.Google Scholar
Schneider, Gerald, and Cederman, Lars-Erik. 1994. “The Change of Tide in Political Cooperation: A Limited Information Model of European Integration.” International Organization 48, no. 4: 633–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schoen, Harald. 2008. “Turkey's Bid for EU Membership, Contrasting Views of Public Opinion, and Vote Choice: Evidence from the 2005 German Federal Election.” Electoral Studies 27, no. 2: 344–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shi, Min, and Svensson, Jakob. 2006. “Political Business Cycles: Do they Differ Across Countries and Why?” Journal of Public Economics 90, no. 8–9: 1367–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slapin, Jonathan B. 2008. “Bargaining Power at Europe's Intergovernmental Conferences: Testing Institutional and Intergovernmental Theories.” International Organization 62, no. 1: 131–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stasavage, David. 2004. “Open-Door or Closed-Door? Transparency in Domestic and International Bargaining.” International Organization 58, no. 3: 667–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thomson, Robert, Stokman, Frans N., Achen, Christopher H., and König, Thomas. 2006. The European Union Decides. Cambridge, Mass.: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tillman, Erik R. 2004. “The European Union at the Ballet Box? European Integration and Voting Behavior in the New Member States.” Comparative Political Studies 37, no. 5: 590–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warntjen, Andreas, Hix, Simon, and Crombez, Christophe. 2008. “The Party Political Make-up of the EU Legislative Bodies.” Journal of European Public Policy 15, 8: 1243–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmer, Christina, Schneider, Gerald, and Dobbins, Michael. 2005. “The Contested Council: Conflict Dimensions of an Intergovernmental EU Institution.” Political Studies 53, no. 2: 403–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar