The Effects of Electoral Systems on Legislator-Constituency Relations: A Five Country Study

本研究系统地考察了五个国家的选举安排对立法者面向选区的活动的影响。 立法者参与面向选民的行动构成代表制的一个关键要素，与更普遍研究的基于政策的代表制不同。 有证据表明，所有立法机构的成员都从事某种形式的面向选民的活动。 不幸的是，除了美国国会之外，对这些活动及其原因的分析很少。更罕见的是，研究立法者与选民的关系比较国家。 因此，对立法者-宪法制定者关系没有一个以宪法为基础的、理论上丰富的理解。 通过比较具有明显不同的选举制度的五个国家，这项调查产生了一个数据库，使这种理解的进步成为可能。 该项目有助于更好地了解代表性的性质以及选举安排在影响席位和选票分配之外所发挥的作用。 这项研究包括与澳大利亚、加拿大、爱尔兰、新西兰和联合王国的国家立法者的个人访谈。 接受采访的是四个两院制议会下院和新西兰一院制议会唯一议院的50至60名立法者。 抽样是为了大致了解每个立法机构立法人员的特点。 此外，还向每个立法机构的每个地区邮寄调查问卷。 这些调查针对的是处理组成问题的高级工作人员，并补充访谈数据。 还收集其他类型的补充数据（主要是选举数据）。 这项研究产生了丰富的数据集有用的学者有兴趣解决一些潜在的解释变化立法者的面向选民的行动。 此外，该数据集有助于分析选区活动与现任选举命运之间的联系（例如，个人投票总数）。

This research systematically examines five nations to determine the influence of electoral arrangements on legislators' constituency-oriented activity/. Legislator involvement in constituency-oriented actions constitutes a key element of representation separate from more commonly studied policy-based representation. Evidence suggests that members of all legislatures engage in some form of constituency-oriented activity. Unfortunately, analyses of such activities, and their causes, are sparse for legislatures other than the U.S. Congress. Rarer still are studies that examine legislator-constituent relations comparatively across nations. Consequently, a causal-based, theoretically rich understanding of legislator-constituent relations does not exist. By comparing five nations with markedly different electoral systems, this investigation produces a database making advancement towards such an understanding possible. The project contributes to a greater understanding of the nature of representation and the role electoral arrangements play beyond influencing seat and vote distributions. The study involves personal interviews with national legislators in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Interviewed are 50-60 legislators in each of the lower houses of the four bicameral parliaments and in the only chamber of New Zealand's unicameral Parliament. Samples are drawn in order to approximate the features of the population of legislators in each legislative body. Additionally, surveys are mailed to each district represented in each legislature. These surveys are directed at senior staff who deal with constituent issues and supplement the interview data. Other types of supplementary data (mainly electoral) are also gathered. This study yields a rich dataset useful for scholars interested in addressing a number of potential explanations for variation in legislator's constituency-oriented actions. Additionally, the dataset is useful for analyzing the linkage between constituency activity and incumbent electoral fortunes (e.g., personal vote totals).