Lietuvos parlamento frakcijų vienybė ir drausmė
Cohesion and Discipline: A case of Lithuania's Parliamentary Factions

Summary/Abstract: In this article the author analyses cohesion and discipline of Lithuania’s parliamentary factions. These two criteria are among the most important in pursuance of an effective functioning of the whole parliament and first of all in the lawmaking area, and in search of the parliamentary factions’ support for the implementation purposes of the Government program. These issues are particularly pressing as regards the parliaments of the post-communist states, where weak party democracy traditions by no means contribute to the party cohesion and discipline. Lithuania is not an exception. Quite to the contrary: Lithuania is a fine illustration of all the above issues. In this paper the cohesion of the parliamentary factions is valued (calculated) by using the “cohesion index” formula of S.Rice. The discipline in its turn – by presenting the party discipline rules and requirements institutionalized in some parties that help achieve party discipline in the parliamentary factions. Article consists of the following parts: 1) nature of parliamentary factions, their functions and definition; 2) Concept of the cohesion and discipline of the parliamentary factions; 3) Analysis of the parliamentary factions’ cohesion; and last 4) Assuring party discipline in Lithuania’s parliamentary factions.

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