ABSTRACT
In studies of the Dutch Parliament, the only political roles that have been studied explicitly are the representative roles defined by Wahlke and Eulau in the context of the US presidential system. The main drawbacks of this role typology for the study of MPs in parliamentary systems is that it ignores political parties, and that the roles deal only with the interactions between MP and electorate, not with the interactions between MP and government. This article seeks to remedy this situation by defining three roles (‘parliamentarian’, ‘partisan’ and ‘advocate’). Although the emphasis has shifted over the years from one role orientation to the other, all three roles seem to co-exist. Such a co-existence of roles can be accounted for by different MPs specialising in different roles, or by all MPs switching from one role to another in different contexts. On the basis of interview data the article reaches the conclusion that role switching may be more important, although there is also some evidence of role specialisation.
