Party Unity and Intra-Party Coordination: The case of the Australian Labor Party

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  • 事前審査による政党の一体性
  • ─オーストラリア労働党を事例として─

Abstract

<p>Why are certain political parties highly unified in parliaments? This article investigates the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in order to address this question. Existing research suggests that cohesion and discipline are principal determinants of party unity. Studies of Australian politics have shown that the ALP is not ideological cohesive and it is difficult for the leadership of the ALP to impose discipline on their MPs. Nevertheless, Australian MPs rarely object to their party leadership in roll call votes. This article tries to solve this puzzle by focusing on intra-party coordination mechanisms. Qualitative case studies show that the ALP’s policy-making organizations called the caucus and caucus policy committees functioned as intra-party coordination mechanisms. Government-sponsored bills were reviewed by the caucus before being presented to the parliament. Within the caucus, the party leadership made concessions to rank-and-file MPs. The ALP maintains their unity because of such intra-party coordination mechanisms.</p>

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