DOI: 10.5553/RP/048647002008050004002

Res PublicaAccess_open

Article

Parlementaire circulatie in de Belgische Kamer van volksvertegenwoordigers, 1831-2008

Keywords Belgium, parliament, legislative careers, legislative turnover
Authors
DOI
Show PDF
Abstract Author's information Statistics Citation
This article has been viewed times.
This article been downloaded 0 times.
Suggested citation
Frederik Verleden and Christophe Heyneman, "Parlementaire circulatie in de Belgische Kamer van volksvertegenwoordigers, 1831-2008", Res Publica, 4, (2008):383-408

    This article examines legislative turnover and parliamentary career length in the Belgian Chamber of Representatives since Belgian independence in 1831. Early on a stable representative elite emerged, characterized by a relatively low turnover and an average parliamentary career of nearly ten years. This pattern has changed substantially in the second half of the twentieth century. The average career length in the Chamber is nowadays historically low, due to some extent to the practice of level-hopping. The distribution of career lengths is at the same time highly asymmetrical. The literature on parliamentary careers and turnover suggests three major explanatory variables: regime change, the evolution of political parties and of the institutional framework. In the Belgian case institutional reform and regime change generated merely temporary effects. The same goes for the rise of the organised mass party at the end of the 19th century. The drop in average career length after the Second World War corresponds with a tighter hold of political parties on the selection process of parliamentary candidates.

Dit artikel wordt geciteerd in


Print this article