Parliamentary committees, legislative supporting agencies and policy advice

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview of the structures of the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as the functions that may allow the parliamentarians to incorporate policy analysis tools in their work. These functions include the parliamentary ‘question time’ and parliamentary committees. The former enables parliamentarians to scrutinise the executive branch and acquire information necessary for their legislative tasks, while the latter is an important mechanism to make laws and shape public policies. This chapter also explores the parliament’s research and administrative services, including the personal staff, for each individual parliamentarian and general research services offered by the parliamentary administration. With the fact that the current constitution has deprived the Thai parliament of its legislative and oversight powers, this chapter demonstrates that the Thai parliamentarians have tried to use what they have for communicating to the electorate that alternatives to the executive branch’s policy proposals are available.