Mémoire
| Résumé : | Although two school of thoughts oppose on the utilization of the words unity and cohesion, the literature on party unity is well documented. In recent decades, the European Parliament has become one of the new arenas for scholars to focus on when studying party unity. However, a majority of these scholars have adopted a static approach to party unity by relying on quantitative data to study a phenomenon which is increasingly dynamic. Moreover, although some studies have grasped the role of individuals in this dynamic construction of unity, no scholar has looked into the role of political group coordinators in building this unity within the parliamentary committees of the European Parliament. This exploratory study aims to fulfill this void by using qualitative data based on interviews which help to demonstrate how unity is built by coordinators within the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament between 2014 and 2019. Results demonstrate that the coordinator very much has a role to play in the unity of the European People’s Party group by stimulating cohesion through discussions and socialization which lead to solidarity; by making use of discipline instruments; but mostly by managing the organization of the political group within each committee and beyond. |
