Das legislative Verhalten von Bundestagsabgeordneten zwischen persönlichen Charakteristika, Wahlkreisinteressen und Parteilinie: Eine Untersuchung am Beispiel der Auseinandersetzung um die Präimplantationsdiagnostik [Caught between personal characteristics, constituency interests and party line: Determinants of the legislative behaviour of Bundestag members in the debate on the regulation of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis]

Most theoretical and empirical accounts focus on the policy preferences of political actors and institutional constraints when explaining the patterns of legislative decision-making in parliamentary democracies. In doing so, incentives of MPs originating from their personal characteristics and experiences which motivate them to take a particular position are often ignored. The latter can, however, play an important role when it comes to parliamentary votes on issues related to ethical or religious aspects. In this paper, we argue that personal traits like the religious denomination play a decisive role for the behaviour of MPs in legislative decisionmaking processes on issues related to moral policy. We select the German Bundestag as an example for generally highly disciplined MPs and a high degree of parliamentary party unity. Our analyses of the parliamentary debate and votes on the regulation of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis show that the legislative behaviour of MPs is not only influenced by partisan issues and the preferences of the MPs respective constituency, but also by MPs’ personal traits such as their religious denomination, gender and parental status.