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Qualified Majority Voting, Legislation Speed and The Treaty of Lisbon - A myth busted or a tale as true as time?

Bolling, Agnes LU (2021) STVM23 20211
Department of Political Science
Abstract
The question weather qualified majority voting (QMV) as a voting procedure actually leads to faster decision-making in the EU has been the subject of research for a long time. While many have argued that the voting procedure significantly increases the speed of the legislative process in comparison to unanimity, others have reached the conclusion that its ability to increase legislation speed has been greatly overstated. Furthermore, many scholars also seem to agree that the Treaty of Lisbon was a particularly important treaty regarding the use of QMV, as it extended as well as altered the use of the voting procedure. Because of this, many predicted that the treaty would bring about a more efficient and faster way of carrying out... (More)
The question weather qualified majority voting (QMV) as a voting procedure actually leads to faster decision-making in the EU has been the subject of research for a long time. While many have argued that the voting procedure significantly increases the speed of the legislative process in comparison to unanimity, others have reached the conclusion that its ability to increase legislation speed has been greatly overstated. Furthermore, many scholars also seem to agree that the Treaty of Lisbon was a particularly important treaty regarding the use of QMV, as it extended as well as altered the use of the voting procedure. Because of this, many predicted that the treaty would bring about a more efficient and faster way of carrying out legislation in the EU. However, little contemporary research has arguably been carried out on the subject, which is why this study has aimed at testing these assumptions through a quantitative approach. This study’s results in many ways contradict earlier findings, as it concludes that QMV is most probably not as related to legislation speed as others have believed, and that there is reason to believe that other factors are more influential. This consequently opens up for more questions to be answered regarding QMV’s ability to increase legislation speed, as well as the Treaty of Lisbon’s success in reaping the supposed benefits of the voting procedure. (Less)
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author
Bolling, Agnes LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVM23 20211
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Qualified Majority Voting, QMV, EU legislation, EU, Treaty of Lisbon, Legislation Speed, Legislation Efficiency
language
English
id
9045158
date added to LUP
2021-07-06 11:10:06
date last changed
2021-07-06 11:10:06
@misc{9045158,
  abstract     = {{The question weather qualified majority voting (QMV) as a voting procedure actually leads to faster decision-making in the EU has been the subject of research for a long time. While many have argued that the voting procedure significantly increases the speed of the legislative process in comparison to unanimity, others have reached the conclusion that its ability to increase legislation speed has been greatly overstated. Furthermore, many scholars also seem to agree that the Treaty of Lisbon was a particularly important treaty regarding the use of QMV, as it extended as well as altered the use of the voting procedure. Because of this, many predicted that the treaty would bring about a more efficient and faster way of carrying out legislation in the EU. However, little contemporary research has arguably been carried out on the subject, which is why this study has aimed at testing these assumptions through a quantitative approach. This study’s results in many ways contradict earlier findings, as it concludes that QMV is most probably not as related to legislation speed as others have believed, and that there is reason to believe that other factors are more influential. This consequently opens up for more questions to be answered regarding QMV’s ability to increase legislation speed, as well as the Treaty of Lisbon’s success in reaping the supposed benefits of the voting procedure.}},
  author       = {{Bolling, Agnes}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Qualified Majority Voting, Legislation Speed and The Treaty of Lisbon - A myth busted or a tale as true as time?}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}