(SAGE Publications, 2024-09-25) Benítez Espinosa, Andrés; Carrasco, Beatriz; Pamies Palazuelo, Joan Carles; Jaime Castillo, Antonio Manuel
Contemporary democracies are undergoing a period of rising levels of polarization and fragmentation. At the same time, the degree of conflict in several parliaments, particularly in Europe, has significantly increased. Despite this, we know very little about conflict and consensus-building in parliaments. In this article, we analyze the degree of agreement in lawmaking in Spanish national and regional parliaments from 1977 to 2023. Using models for panel data we find that agreement between parties is higher when the effective number of parties is also higher, and when the incumbent party does not have a majority in parliament. However, contrary to our expectations and previous scholarship, ideological polarization does not have a significant effect on agreement. Additionally, specific characteristics of the bills have proven to have an impact on the degree of agreement.
