Simon Otjes | University of Groningen (original) (raw)

Simon Otjes

Currently, I work as researcher the Documentation Centre Dutch Political Parties of Groningen University. My research focuses on developments in the Dutch and European party system.

Earlier I worked as post-doctoral researcher at the Institute Public Administration of Leiden University, as an electoral researcher for the headquarters of the Dutch Greens and Bureau de Helling, the thinktank of the Dutch Green Party and as a PhD-researcher at the Institute of Political Science of Leiden University. I defended my thesis in 2012. It focused on the effect of the entry of new parties into the political arena on existing parties and the party system. My research concerned the reactions of parties in both the parliamentary and electoral arena. Before starting the PhD-program I studied Political Science and Philosophy of the Social Sciences at Leiden University.

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Papers by Simon Otjes

Party Politics, Jul 13, 2023

This study examines how parliamentary party groups decide who speaks for them on specific issues ... more This study examines how parliamentary party groups decide who speaks for them on specific issues in parliament. We build on three strands of the literature: the work on the institutional foundations of parliamentary speech; the literature on committee assignments in parliamentary systems which points to different rationales behind parliamentary specialisation and the division of labour; and the literature on issue competition. First, we expect that the party leadership will assign more speaking time on issues that parties ‘own’ to Members of Parliament (MPs) they favour. Second, we expect an informational rationale regarding the allocation of speaking time by which MPs speak on issues for which they have pre-existing expertise. Third, we expect MPs to speak on issues if they have ties to relevant constituencies outside parliament. We analyse a new data set of all speeches in the Dutch lower house between 1998–2017. The analyses point to the importance of two rationales in the allocation of speaking time: high-status MPs (reflected by their list positions) speak on issues that parties prioritise, and MPs speak on issues of which they have specialised knowledge. Our analyses shed important light on how parliamentary party groups (PPGs) function, specifically how they divide labour within their ranks.

Electoral Studies, Aug 1, 2023

Bij de afgelopen Tweede Kamerverkiezingen boekte DENK ongekend goede resultaten in wijken met een... more Bij de afgelopen Tweede Kamerverkiezingen boekte DENK ongekend goede resultaten in wijken met een hoge concentratie stemmers met een migratieachtergrond. Bij de komende gemeenteraadsverkiezingen zal daarom met meer dan normale belangstelling gekeken worden naar de resultaten van DENK in steden als Amsterdam, Rotterdam en Den Haag, waar de partij het politieke landschap op zijn kop kan zetten. Maar hoewel de afgelopen tijd veel is gezegd en geschreven over DENK, is er nog weinig systematisch onderzoek gedaan naar de partij en haar achterban. Wat voor partij is DENK? Wie stemmen er op DENK? Wat zijn daarbij de belangrijkste beweegreden? Onlangs zijn er twee papers gepresenteerd op basis van grootschalige databestanden – Kieskompas, IPSOS en SCoRe – over het profiel van de DENK-stemmers.

European Union Politics, Jan 6, 2016

In dit artikel proberen Paul Lucardie en Simon Otjes na te gaan wat de gevolgen van het uittreden... more In dit artikel proberen Paul Lucardie en Simon Otjes na te gaan wat de gevolgen van het uittreden van Groot Brittannie voor het Europees Parlement kunnen zijn.

Loughborough University Institutional Repository (Loughborough University), 2014

Political Psychology, May 15, 2017

Journal of Common Market Studies, Jul 19, 2022

Party Politics

The literature on the populist radical right has underlined the party family’s influence on a var... more The literature on the populist radical right has underlined the party family’s influence on a variety of issues, such as immigration, welfare, and the EU. However, scholars have hardly studied its influence in the field of democracy reform, even though populist radical right parties strongly criticize how democratic systems currently function. In an exploratory and qualitative study of four cases, we analyze the adaptation (or lack thereof) of mainstream parties to populist radical right parties’ challenge in the field of democracy reform in Austria, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, focusing on direct democracy. In contrast to other policy issues, we find limited adaptation of mainstream parties in the field of democracy reform: Instead of being a driver on democracy reform, the populist radical right is merely a fellow passenger. Where it has an effect, that effect is mostly negative, turning mainstream parties away from direct democracy.

Politics of the Low Countries, 2020