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Most of the empirical literature on party membership has focused on the decline of national party membership figures across Europe (Mair and Van Biezen, 2001; Weldon, 2006; Van Biezen et al. 2012). However, little attention has been devoted to the agency of political parties in membershiprecruitment (Faucher, 2015). Qualitative comparative analysis is used to explore which combinations of structural and party agency factors account for membership growth in 13 parties in 7 Western European democracies (Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and UK). Using data collected in the framework of the Political Party Database (PPDB), this paper identifies several combinations of structural and intra-party factors that are unnecessary but sufficient to explain membership growth. It shows that intra-party factors alone are not a "universal" trigger to increase membership levels. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The impact of infra-national dynamics on party membership has been understudied so far. This is rather surprising as recent studies have shown the importance of local and regional context for political participation and party competition (Remmer, 2009; Müller, 2013; Oliver, 2014). This paper suggests to explore this issue by testing the differentiated effect of electoral district size, national and regional election cycles on party membership fluctuations in the Belgian multilevel system. Based on a subset of MAPP data on Belgian party members disaggregated at the electoral district level over a period from 1990 to 2004, this paper shows that fluctuations of party membership ratios are linked to party level factors and to regional context. It also shows a differentiated impact of national and regional elections as mobilization factors. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Long considered as losers of the integration process, national parliaments have now come back. Since the Lisbon Treaty (Auel and Christiansen 2015, Fromage 2015) but also with the economic and financial crisis, national parliaments have tried, with varying degrees, to play a more important role in EU affairs (Auel and Hoing 2014, Auel et al. 2015). There has been a burgeoning literature to understand how, to what extent and under which conditions national parliaments can affect EU politics and policies (Benz 2004, Cooper 2012, Fasone 2014, Raunio 2009, Sprungk 2013).On the basis of this body of work, the aim of this paper is to concentrate on one key issue: Brexit and how it is discussed in Belgian parliaments. Brexit has triggered an existential crisis for the EU and has led to new debates on the future of Europe. In the past, Belgium always tried to be at the forefront of those debates and pushed for federal ideas at the EU level. However, since 2014, the main party in the governing coalition labelled itself eurorealist and sits with the British Conservatives in the EP. The objective of this paper is therefore to see if these developments have had an impact on the ways Belgian politicians discuss and frame the EU and its future. To do so, this will rely on a Social Network Analysis of parliamentary debates in the federal, Flemish and Walloon parliaments. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The Brexit referendum in June 2016 marked a critical point for European integration and has quickly attracted attention from scholars. However, the literature so far has focused on the UK and the EU level, neglecting the asymmetric risk exposures and the diverging views around Brexit within the Member states. This article aims at contributing to filling this gap by analyzing to what extent the attention paid to Brexit differs across parliaments in a multilevel setting and whether parties emphasize the same issue across different levels? It relies on a unique database of parliamentary questions in the Belgian (regional and federal) parliaments between 2013 and 2017 and combines social network analysis and a loglinear modeling to analyze how Brexit has been framed and discussed in Belgium. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Le fichier attaché à cette référence, version publiée de l'œuvre, est librement accessible, sans embargo, en accord avec les Éditions de l'Université de Bruxelles ; http://www.editions-universite-bruxelles.be/fiche/view/2778 ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This paper explores how party-specific contextual factors explain variations in membership levels. Based on a subset of MAPP data that includes 2,898 yearly membership data points for 262 parties in 24 countries over a period from 1990 to 2014, it examines three sets of explanations: the lifecycle model (party age), the bandwagon model (electoral performances and governemental participation), and the competition model (effective number of parties). Our results confirm that membership ratios present an overall decreasing trend across parties over time. At the same time, we show that this trend is flattening and that there are important variations at the party level. Fluctuations of membership are part of a party's lifecycle. Our results also point toward a bandwagon effect whereby party membership levels increase or decrease according to electoral performances, and to a patronage boost linked to governmental participation. Finally, we show that party system fragmentation decreases individual parties' membership ratios. Overall, our findings complement the story on party membership decline and calls for further investigations of party-level explanations. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Assessments of party decline and decline of traditional forms of political participation often rely on the argument of party membership decline. Most studies analysing trends in party membership over time focus on aggregate country-level data at a few points in time. While they allow grasping general membership trends, they are not without shortcomings. This article presents the MAPP dataset related to the MAPP project (Members and Activists of Political Parties). The dataset makes a large amount of data on party membership available to the larger public. The dataset provides 6,307 party membership data observations (M) covering 397 parties in 31 countries, mostly between 1945 and 2014. The article discusses the existing literature and data on party membership trends, how membership trends have been assessed so far, and the potential added value of the MAPP dataset. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Based on a subset of MAPP data on 253 parties in 28 countries over a period from 1990 to 2014, this paper explores paths for a party-based explanatory model of the differences in party membership trajectories and changes over time. It examines the effect of time, vote share, governmental participation, and number of competing parties on party membership. Our results confirm that membership ratios present an overall decreasing trend but that this trend is flattening. They also introduce important nuances of diverging membership trends at the party level and across party families. Moreover, our results show that electoral results are linked with membership ratios evolution. These findings question dominant views on the overall decline of party membership trends and call for further investigations at the party level, especially regarding the link between election and membership cycles. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Based on a subset of MAPP data on 253 parties in 28 countries over a period from 1990 to 2014, this paper explores paths for a party-based explanatory model of the differences in party membership trajectories and changes over time. It examines the effect of time, vote share, governmental participation, and number of competing parties on party membership. Our results confirm that membership ratios present an overall decreasing trend but that this trend is flattening. They also introduce important nuances of diverging membership trends at the party level and across party families. Moreover, our results show that electoral results are linked with membership ratios evolution. These findings question dominant views on the overall decline of party membership trends and call for further investigations at the party level, especially regarding the link between election and membership cycles. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Based on an original dataset containing membership figures for 397 parties in 31countries over a period from 1945 to 2014, this paper developed a party-basedexplanatory model of the differences in membership levels and changes over time. Itexamines the effect party age, vote share, governmental participation, and number of competing parties. Our results confirm that membership ratios are overall decreasing, but they introduce nuances across party families. Moreover, our results show that parties with larger shares of the votes and parties in power get larger membership ratios, and that parties gaining votes tend to increase their membership ratios. The model found more contrasted results for party age, with only newer parties associated with membership increase. Finally, the number of competing parties does not influence individual parties' membership ratios per se, but a diminution of the competition means higher M/E ratios for the remaining parties. These findings question dominant views on party membership trends and call for further investigations at the party level, especially regarding the link between election and membership cycles. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

The development of efficient logistics plays a crucial role in national trade competitiveness. The present study aims to determine Mexico´s foreign trade logistics competitiveness with respect to the largest economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in 2012. The study considers three key variables: customs, international transport and logistics services. It uses a principal components analysis to compute a foreign trade logisticscompetitiveness index. The results indicate that the three variables have a direct and significant impact on international trade logistics competitiveness. According to the analyzed variables, the most competitive countries are, in descending order, Panama, China, Singapore, Korea and Thailand. The study identifies improvement opportunities for Mexico on the logistics and customs factors. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The number of municipal councillors and aldermen in the Brussels-Capital Region is relatively high, and increases at each election. In the debates on the functioning of the political institutions of the Region the idea to reduce the number of local representatives is regularly raised. This contribution explores the possible implications of such a reduction. Three scenarios are examined: a reduction by 10 %, by 20 % and by 30 %. For each of these scenarios, the consequences for the ideological diversity in the municipal councils, the workload for the representatives and the aldermen, the formation of coalitions, the gender balances and the position of the Dutch speaking elected representatives are simulated. For the smaller fractions, the Dutch speaking representatives and the gender balances the effects are clearly negative. ; SCOPUS: re.j ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Le nombre de conseillers communaux et d'échevins dans la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale est relativement élevé et augmente à chaque élection. Au cours des débats sur le fonctionnement des institutions politiques de la Région, l'idée de réduire le nombre de mandataires locaux est régulièrement mise sur la table. La présente contribution étudie les implications possibles d'une telle diminution. Trois scénarios sont envisagés :une diminution de 10 %, de 20 % et de 30 %. Pour chacun de ces scénarios, une simulation a été faite de ses effets sur le pluralisme dans les conseils communaux, sur la charge de travail des conseillers et échevins, sur la formation de coalitions, sur les équilibres de genres et sur la position des élus néerlandophones. Pour les petits groupes, pour les néerlandophones et pour l'égalité des genres, les effets seraient clairement négatifs. ; Cet article est une traduction de :Minder lokale mandatarissen in Brussel? Scenario's en impact (https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1868) Autre(s) traduction(s) de cet article :Fewer local representatives in Brussels? Scenarios and impact (https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1913) ; SCOPUS: re.j ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published