Prof. Dr. Jean-François Godbout (Université de Montréal & Princeton University)
“Parties and Voting in Parliament”
Thursday, February 27 2014
3:00 pm
Room 404, Thomson House, McGill University (3650 McTavish Street)
ALL ARE WELCOME, FREE ADMISSION
The talk will be streamlined at https://connect.mcgill.ca/r7fmip91a3e/
Jean-François Godbout (Northwestern Ph.D. 2007) is an Associate Professor of political science at the University of Montreal. He is currently on leave as a visiting research scholar at Princeton University in the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics. His research is primarily focused on democratic processes and political institutions. He has published several journal articles on legislative behaviour and elections in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the development of party discipline and voting unity in the Canadian House of Commons. Our data includes more than 10,893 divisions recorded between 1867 and 2011. We use several different empirical models to determine whether the increase in party voting unity observed during this period is explained by cohort/replacement effects, career ambition, electoral incentives, or by the modification of the rules and regulations governing the legislative agenda. Overall, we find little evidence to support the claim that electoral, cohort, or career specific effects increase partisanship in the legislature. Rather, the results suggest that partisan sorting and the government’s ability to control the legislative agenda explain the consolidation of parties in the Canadian Parliament during the 20th century.