Contents:
1. Parliamentary Nominations in Western Democracies.
HANNE MARTHE NARUD, MOGENS N. PEDERSEN AND HENRY VALEN.
Introduction.
The Process of Nominations.
The Role of Nominations in the Chain of Parliamentary Delegation.
Bringing the Perspectives together.
Research Questions.
2. Denmark: The Interplay of Nominations and Elections in Danish Politics.
MOGENS N. PEDERSEN.
The early history of nominations and elections.
An illustration from the 1998 election.
The role of the state.
The role of the parties.
Who are the candidates?
Proper behavior during the electoral campaign.
The changing role of the voters.
A special case: the increasing success rate of female candidates.
Turnover and recruitment.
Concluding comments.
3. Finland: Formalized Procedures with Member Predominance.
Soile Kuitunen.
The nomination system.
The role of the party.
Criteria for candidate selection.
Sanctions and rewards.
Conclusions.
4. Iceland: From Party Rule to Pluralist Political Society.
SVANUR KRISTJANSSON.
Nomination method, turnover and main characteristics of MPs:
The question of causation.
5. Norway: Party Dominance and Decentralized Decision-Making.
HENRY VALEN, HANNE MARTHE NARUD AND AUDUN SKARE.
The new system.
The organizational process.
Candidate selection.
Nominations and the electorate.
6. Conclusions.
The institutional setting.
How are nominations organized?
What are the mechanisms for screening?
What is the outcome of the screening process?
What is the level of parliamentary turnover?
The multi-leveled network of principals and agents.
Citizen control over candidate selection.