Late to the party : Do party switchers behave differently in parliament from party loyalists?

Abstract

What is the role of political parties in shaping parliamentary interactions in contexts where party switching is relatively frequent, as observed in many emerging democracies? If parties have a limited coordinating function in young democracies, one would expect current party affiliation to have little influence, with party switchers maintaining their original networks of parliamentary contacts. Conversely, a shift in interaction patterns towards members of the new party would indicate the persistence of party-based organization within parliament. We examine an extreme case: in the 11th Zambian National Assembly, nearly half of the Members of Parliament had switched party affiliation at least once. Using social network analysis of data from face-to-face interviews with 103 Members of Parliament, we analyse patterns of Member of Parliament interaction in parliament. Our findings suggest that current party affiliation significantly structures these interactions. This provides strong evidence for the continuing relevance of parties in emerging democracies – encouraging news for those who view parties as fundamental building blocks of representative democracy.