Organising the European Parliament

Organising the European Parliament studies parliamentary committees and their impact on policy making, interest representation and democracy in the European Union. It shows that the internal setup and legislative output of the committees serve the policy goals of political parties rather than particularistic interests or purely informational needs. The increase in the legitimacy, transparency and accountability of the European Union output that the committee work brings, however, is threatened by the increasingly common and informal bicameral decision making. "Organising the European Parliament [original thesis] marks a substantial contribution not only to the literature on parliaments in general and the European Parliament in particular, but also to the understanding of the democratic defi cit in Europe and how it might be tackled." Peter Mair, Professor of Comparative Politics, European University Institute "The best book yet written on committees in the European Parliament. A mustread for all serious scholars and students of EU politics." Simon Hix, Professor of European and Comparative Politics, Fellow of the British Academy and Head of Department of Government London School of Economics and Political Science "The steadily increasing signifi cance and status of the European Parliament has been matched by the growing interest of scholars in understanding its internal organisational and power dynamics. In this timely study, Yordanova draws on US Congressional theories of legislative organisation to provide important new insights into how legislative politics operates in the European Union. In a systematic and thorough review of a large range of evidence she shows that, while there is some scope for MEP specialisation, ultimately the European Parliament's legislative process is heavily conditioned by partisan interests." David Farrell, Jean Monnet Professor of Politics and Head of School of Politics and International Relations University College Dublin .Awarded the Prize for Best Dissertation in EU Studies 2009-2010 by the European Union Studies Association, Boston, US. .Awarded the François Mény Prize 2011 for the Best Comparative Study of Political Institutions by the European University Institute, Florence, Italy. .Shortlisted for the Jean Blondel PhD Prize 2010 for best thesis in Politics by the European Consortium for Political Research Press.