Agreement, Loyalty, and Discipline: A Sequential Approach to Party Unity

One of the important characteristics (or consequences) of partisan representation is party unity on recorded votes in parliament. This chapter explores how this unity can be achieved. It suggests a sequential model that also creates a greater conceptual clarity. Party agreement is the situation in which MPs toe the party line because they simply agree with their party’s position. Party loyalty comes about when MPs believe that party unity is important for parliamentary government. Party discipline means following a logic of consequententiality, that is, MPs vote with the party because they want to avoid possible sanctions in case of dissent. Party agreement is the most important pathway to party unity. But party agreement, loyalty, and discipline are all affected by the institutional context.