Assessing Institutional Determinants of MP Behaviour: Survey Data from the Baltic States*

Abstract: To what extent do electoral and legislative institutions affect the behav-iour of parliamentarians in new democracies? This article examines this question on the basis of a wide-ranging survey of MPs in the Baltic states from January 2000. Given substantial differences in the types of institutions existing in the three states, the research tests whether these differences are reflected in MPs ’ re-sponses to key questions about their relationship to and interaction with (1) par-liamentary work, (2) their party and faction, (3) individual voters, (4) the interests of their district or constituency, and (5) interest groups. The results corroborate a number of existing theoretical postulates, while leaving unconfirmed others. Sociologický časopis/Czech Sociological Review 2005, Vol. 41, No. 3: 461–486 In the consolidating democracies of Central and Eastern Europe it is a truism that one of the central dimensions of this process is the development of a healthy par-liamentary democracy. More specifically, this question concerns the myriad roles parliamentary deputies are expected to fulfil in relation to voters, parties, interest groups, other state institutions, the media, foreign counterparts, etc. In some cases