A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä
Government vs opposition voting in the Finnish parliament Eduskunta since World War II
Tekijät: Pajala Antti
Julkaisuvuosi: 2013
Lehti: European Journal of Government and Economics
Lehden akronyymi: EJGE
Numero sarjassa: 1
Vuosikerta: 2
Numero: 1
Aloitussivu: 41
Lopetussivu: 58
Sivujen määrä: 18
ISSN: 2254-7088
eISSN: 2254-7088
Verkko-osoite: http://www.ejge.org/index.php/ejge/article/view/32
Tiivistelmä
In a parliamentary system it is by definition justified to assume the government
parties voting almost always in a unitary manner in plenary votes. In a multiparty
system it is, however, hard to predict how the opposition groups vote. Few studies
analysing government-opposition voting in the Finnish parliament Eduskunta were
published during the 1960s and 1970s. This study provides similar analyses
regarding the parliamentary years of 1991-2012. Combined the studies provide an
insight into the government-opposition relations since World War II. The results
show that before the 1990s the government-opposition division in plenary votes
appeared rather clear and the political party groups’ positions followed the
traditional left-right dimension. Since the 1990s, the government-opposition division
has become greater. The governing coalition acts almost as a bloc while the
opposition groups are divided into moderate and hard opposition. The opposition
groups, however, appear in a more or less random order. Consequently, since the
1990s the left-right dimension has disappeared with respect to plenary voting.
In a parliamentary system it is by definition justified to assume the government
parties voting almost always in a unitary manner in plenary votes. In a multiparty
system it is, however, hard to predict how the opposition groups vote. Few studies
analysing government-opposition voting in the Finnish parliament Eduskunta were
published during the 1960s and 1970s. This study provides similar analyses
regarding the parliamentary years of 1991-2012. Combined the studies provide an
insight into the government-opposition relations since World War II. The results
show that before the 1990s the government-opposition division in plenary votes
appeared rather clear and the political party groups’ positions followed the
traditional left-right dimension. Since the 1990s, the government-opposition division
has become greater. The governing coalition acts almost as a bloc while the
opposition groups are divided into moderate and hard opposition. The opposition
groups, however, appear in a more or less random order. Consequently, since the
1990s the left-right dimension has disappeared with respect to plenary voting.
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