Replication Data for: Asking Territories. The Constituency Orientation of Italian and French Members of the European Parliament.

In this article we explore the potential for electoral systems to influence the attitudes and behavior of elected representatives. Focusing on ‘constituency representation’, we consider how variation in electoral systems may shape forms of political representation. An analysis of written parliamentary questions (PQs) offers an important instrument to look at the role of individual parliamentarians even where, as in the European Parliament case, political parties enforce discipline in roll-call voting. This kind of investigation offers the opportunity to (partially) resolve many empirical and theoretical problems related to the other methods of research. In particular, unlike legislative voting behavior and parliamentary speeches, PQs are a free-choice of each legislator and party leadership does not control them. This article analyses the constituency focus of two national delegations in the European Parliament that differ on the two main dimensions of electoral systems (ballot structure and district magnitude): the Italian and French delegations. The study is conducted through the content analysis of 5343 written parliamentary questions asked by Italian and French MEPs during the sixth term (2004-2009). The results suggest that despite the MEPs’ lack of electoral connection MEPs, electoral institutions shape the legislative behavior of the Italian and French parliamentarians.

本文探讨选举制度对当选代表的态度与行为的影响潜力。聚焦选区代表制（constituency representation），本文分析选举制度的差异如何塑造政治代表的实现形式。对议会书面质询（parliamentary questions, PQs）的分析，是考察个体议员角色的重要工具——即便在欧洲议会这类政党会对记名投票施加纪律约束的场景中，该方法依然具备应用价值。此类研究可为解决其他研究方法所面临的诸多经验与理论难题提供（部分）解决方案。具体而言，与立法投票行为及议会演说不同，议会书面质询（PQs）是每位议员的自主选择，不受政党领导层的管控。本文以欧洲议会中两个在选举制度两大核心维度（选票结构与选区规模）上存在差异的国家代表团——意大利与法国代表团——为研究对象，分析其议员的选区关注倾向。本研究通过对第六任期（2004-2009年）内意大利与法国欧洲议会议员（Members of the European Parliament, MEPs）提交的5343份议会书面质询进行内容分析完成。研究结果表明，尽管欧洲议会议员缺乏本土选举关联，但选举制度依然会塑造意大利与法国议员的立法行为。