Assessing strength and weakness in legislatures: The case of Denmark

Abstract

This paper presents a preliminary assessment of the policy power of the Danish parliament in the context of the minority coalitions that are typical of the nation's politics. Three sets of indicators are used. The first is the number and success rate of bills and resolutions proposed by opposition parties compared with the success of government initiatives over a period of 30 years. The second, also quantitative in character, is the success rate of government and opposition amendments to executive bills in recent years. The third set of indicators involves the analysis of a number of case studies covering various aspects of the policy-making process. The findings of the case studies are consonant with, and complement, the main conclusions from the longitudinal data, namely that in general the government has the upper hand in the policy-making process. Equally, the Folketing does make a difference and parties not in government can influence government policy. This underlines the fact that the complex task of assessing the policy power of the Danish parliament must include the party dimension.