Opposition Members Of Parliament Research Articles

How to Argue with Questions and Answers: Argumentation Strategies in Parliamentary Deliberation

While apparently designed to request information, parliamentary questions are the most challenging and face-threatening acts, used argumentatively by opposition members of parliament (MPs) to confront and attack government MPs, and especially the Prime Minister (PM) in the notoriously adversarial Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs). By contextually, discursively and rhetorically articulating varying degrees of relevance and persuasiveness, questioning and answering practices serve as basic debating tools for MPs, whose main parliamentary role and responsibility consist of holding the government and the PM accountable. The aim of this paper is to explore how argumentation/counter-argumentation strategies and persuasive/dissuasive techniques are shaped through the co-performance of MPs’ questioning and the PM’s answering practices in PMQs. To better capture the effects of the shifting dynamics of polemical question-answer exchanges between political adversaries, the present analysis is based on the cross-fertilization of pragma-rhetoric and argumentation theory. The commonalities and complementarities of these approaches have been used to identify and problematize the higher or lower degrees of argumentation at the question-answer interface in terms of valid or fallacious reasoning patterns in three categories of strategic questions: yes/no questions, wh-questions and disjunctive questions.

Meta-questions and meta-answers: The interplay of metadialogic practices in PMQs

In UK Prime Minister's Questions (PMQs), metadialogic practices can steer the direction and scope of the parliamentary confrontation between the Leader of the Opposition (LO) or opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), and the Prime Minister (PM), which consists of polemical question-answer exchanges. Recurrent metadialogic practices are rationally and/or emotionally instantiated through meta-questions (posed by the LO) and meta-answers (delivered by the PM). This investigation used a pragma-rhetorical approach to the interplay between parliamentary meta-questions and meta-answers, which reveals, through the PM's evasiveness or failure to answer the LO's and opposition MPs' questions, a reluctance to play by the (parliamentary) rules and assume responsibility as head of government, party leader and ‘primus inter pares’ in the UK Parliament. The findings show that meta-questions and meta-answers interact at discursive, interpersonal and institutional levels. At the discursive level, they point to the debaters' appraisal of the urgency and importance of debated issues and to the debaters' commitments. At the interpersonal level, they indicate the scope of the debaters' strengths and weaknesses, and the degree of their adversarialness. At the institutional level, they signal the debaters' compliance with or defiance of institutional norms that regulate MPs' behaviour and verbal performance during PMQs.

Niue

Niue Salote Talagi (bio) This has been an unprecedented period for Niue, with the global novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (covid-19) pandemic compelling Niue to shut its borders for the first time in contemporary history and the 2020 Niue general election resulting in the ousting of former Premier Sir Toke Talagi. While the former was a significant and unforeseen event, the latter was [End Page 214] unsurprising, following concerns regularly raised by opposition members of Parliament (mps) over the former premier’s extended absence from Niue due to ill health and the ensuing calls for his resignation due to his inability to carry out duties expected of him as premier and minister for finance. First, I extend my condolences to the family of and the people of Niue led by former Premier Sir Toke Talagi, who passed away while this review was being written. While our approaches to politics differed, Sir Toke was an admirable and bold leader who was fiercely proud of Niue and its people and who saw great potential in what Niue could achieve. It is without a doubt that, thanks to his leadership, Niue is now well placed for the new government to carry forward. There were a number of key items and events worth noting during this period: Niue designated 40 percent of its exclusive economic zone, an equivalent of 127,000 square kilometers (49,035 square miles), as a marine conservation area (Moana Mahu Marine protected area); the country became the world’s first Dark Sky Nation; there was impressive external diplomatic representation at Niue’s forty-fifth constitution celebrations, with representatives from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, the United States, and the People’s Republic of China; and Niue was removed from the European Union’s blacklist for tax havens after it implemented all necessary reforms to strengthen good governance and clamp down on tax avoidance (bcn, 25 Feb 2020). A total of four acts were passed in the Niue Legislative Assembly during this period, and four regulations were introduced (Niue Crown Law Office 2020). Evidently, this period has been quiet on the lawmaking front, with opposition to some extent dominating discussions in the assembly and media, in addition to disruptions caused by covid-19 and the Niue general election. As such, this review focuses on the impacts of covid-19 and the 2020 election. The covid-19 pandemic saw Niue, which remains one of the world’s few covid-19-free countries, shut its borders to the outside world for the first time in contemporary history. Plagued by disquiet and calls from opposition mps and the local business community to shut Niue’s borders, the government and other relevant agencies’ proactive management of Niue’s response to the virus, including the application of a virus-prevention strategy, has so far been successful. This approach follows the lead of other countries who have been successful in their management of covid-19, such as Tonga and New Zealand. As the number of cases surged globally, it was evident that Niue’s health-care system, as well as its broader political system, was in no position to handle any case or community outbreak of the virus. The decimating outbreak of measles in Sāmoa in 2019 signaled that island countries like Niue are not immune to such events. Given Niue’s ill-equipped health-care system, which is reliant on New Zealand and other regional and global bodies for support, equipment, and supplies, the best strategy was prevention. With the establishment of covid-19 as a notifiable disease pursuant to the Public Health Act 1965, travel [End Page 215] restrictions and strict quarantine requirements for incoming passengers were implemented (Government of Niue 2020). The first few repatriation flights were not without issues, as many people were confused about the meaning of “quarantine” and “isolation” and the quarantine rules for arrivals were inconsistent. The first covid-19 briefing in Niue for arriving passengers also saw family and community members attend out of interest, raising concerns about the risk of exposure not only to those present but also to the Niue Golf and Sports Club members. Many appeared to struggle to fully grasp and understand the implications of...

Fiscal transparency puzzle and electoral institutions: applying a 3Ds approach for tracking the action cycle in Egypt

ABSTRACTThis article aims at contributing to the discussion on the fiscal transparency puzzle. The authors challenge the idea that fiscal disclosure can directly increase fiscal accountability. Using an original data set at the level of individual members of parliament (MPs) in the Egyptian parliament, constructed from content analysis of budgetary discussions during the period 2000–10, it is shown that political incentives determined by a majoritarian electoral system curbed the willingness to check government fiscal behaviour, even among opposition MPs. This is because MPs still favoured pork-barrel behaviour to boost their re-election chances. Moreover, fiscal data disclosed could not be communicated to voters and the opposition showed a relatively higher avoidance against fiscal disclosure. The authors conclude that the electoral system is a dominant factor in shaping the final effect of transparency given its influence on the structure of political incentives.

Policy-oriented argumentation or ironic evaluation: A study of verbal quoting and positioning in Austrian politicians’ parliamentary debate contributions

This article explores the different uses of forms of direct verbal quotes (whole clauses, word groups, or single words/phrases) in follow-up utterances delivered during the parliamentary debates after the inaugural speech of a new chancellor in the Austrian parliament and investigates their positioning effects for members of parliament (MPs) who have the first opportunity of publicly ‘doing being a government or opposition MP’ in the new legislative term. Representing the first public confrontation between government and opposition MPs, the debates foreshadow topical and interpersonal aspects of the political frontstage communication in the beginning legislative term. The main purpose of this article is to investigate the relations between formal properties of direct verbal quotes, recontextualization practices, their pragmatic function, and the specific aspect of the public personae speakers foreground by their use in the inaugural debates. Although direct quotations in follow-up utterances of MPs do not occur very often, the analyses demonstrate that this specific form of discourse representation deserves attention not only because it is mainly opposition MPs who use direct quotations in uptaking discourse units, but also because of the different semiotic aspects of direct quotes (symbolic, content oriented vs indexical, reported speaker typifying) which are foregrounded in the investigated recontextualization practices. These practices result in MPs’ different public self-positionings toward their role of ‘being an opposition MP’, namely, either as policy-oriented arguers or as ironic evaluators.

Studying the Indian Legislature: What does Question Hour Reveal?

This article explores legislator behaviour during the Question Hour in the lower house of India’s parliament (the Lok Sabha) over a 30-year period (1980–2009). It establishes that there is considerable variation in the volume of legislator activity, with some Members of Parliament (MPs) remaining silent throughout their tenures (even as opposition MPs over full Lok Sabha terms), while others use the Question Hour much more effectively. Surprisingly, the activity of government backbenchers is only a little behind that of opposition MPs. The article constructs stylized facts regarding the relationship of three sets of covariates with the number of parliamentary questions asked by legislators: personal characteristics of MPs, legislative roles of MPs and the states represented by the MPs. The picture which emerges is that there is a disjuncture between symbolic and substantive representation. Despite increased symbolic representation, some groups—such as women and Scheduled Tribe MPs, but not Scheduled Caste MPs—still participate below par. At the same time, Question Hour is used more effectively by other groups—men and upper caste MPs, but also younger MPs and those with college education. Further, we uncover some puzzling state patterns: MPs from Orissa, Gujarat and Maharashtra seem to participate more than MPs from Punjab, Tamil Nadu and the Northeastern states.

Public Accounts Committees in Eastern and Southern Africa: A Comparative Analysis

This article provides the first and most comprehensive analysis of Public Accounts Committees (PACs) from Eastern and Southern Africa building on the work of McGee, Jacobs, Stapenhurst, and Staddon. By analyzing an original set of data, this article shows that PACs in these two regions are bigger, have more staff members, and are more likely to be chaired by opposition Members of Parliament than they have in other countries and regions. Furthermore, the data show that Eastern and Southern African PACs are more active than their counterparts elsewhere. However, lack of political will and limits to the range of powers that they enjoy as well as the dearth of quality technical support from parliamentary staff significantly undermines the effectiveness of these committees and their ability to play a greater role in curbing corruption.Related Articles Jones, Kate, and Kerry Jacobs. 2009. “.” Politics & Policy 39 (): 1023‐1046. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2009.00209.x/abstract Pelizzo, Riccardo. 2010. “.” Politics & Policy 38 (): 117‐137. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2009.00231.x/abstract Pelizzo, Riccardo, Rick Staphenhurst, Vinod Sahgal, and William Woodley. 2006. “.” Politics & Policy 34 (): 774‐793. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2006.00040.x/abstract Related Media African Videos. 2013. “.” http://www.africanvid.com/uganda/frustrated‐parliamentary‐public‐accounts‐committee‐gives‐up‐on‐interrogating‐geoffrey‐kazinda/ Mokone, Thabo. 2012. “.” Sowetan Live. http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2012/06/14/presidency‐grilled‐for‐over‐spending

Artisanal small-scale mining and mercury pollution in Ghana: a critical examination of a messy minerals and gold mining policy

The use of mercury in artisanal small-scale gold mining has generated intense debate because of its deleterious effects on human health. A narrative policy analysis of artisanal gold mining debates in Ghana’s parliament was carried out in this study. The results show that civil society and policy makers use various rhetorical idioms particularly rhetoric of loss, entitlement, endangerment, unreason, and calamity to support claims-making in the artisanal mining debates. This reveals the co-mingling of politics and science in environmental policymaking. Although the science of mercury has remained almost the same over time in the debates, the understanding of how knowledge is produced has certainly changed over time. The political and economic history of gold mining indicates that colonial and post-independence policies partly account for the persistence and limited integration of artisanal gold mining in the national economy and, by extension, the persistence of mercury pollution in mining communities. Consistently, opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) argued in favor of artisanal miners, unlike their counterparts on the other side of the political divide (ruling government) who virtually sought to blame the victims (artisanal gold miners). However, whenever political change of power occurred, these very same MPs changed their rhetoric from pro-artisanal mining to anti-artisanal mining. Furthermore, anti-artisanal gold mining remarks from government lulls in election years.

Adversarial Discourse in Prime Minister’s Questions

In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) are a weekly 30-minute parliamentary session, in which the prime minister (PM) responds to questions from both government and opposition members of parliament (MPs). In this study, 18 PMQs (April-November, 2007) were analysed, 9 with Labour PM Tony Blair, 9 with his successor Gordon Brown; in all 18 sessions, their opponent was Conservative Party leader David Cameron. In PMQs, MPs are expected to converse through questions and replies, while refraining from “unparliamentary language” (e.g., direct insults to another MP). However, within these constraints, PMQs are notorious for adversarial discourse, analysed in this study through the concept of face-threatening acts (FTAs). Six distinctive ways in which FTAs are performed by the leader of the opposition in questions and five distinctive ways in which the PM may counter FTAs in replies were identified. Overall, it is proposed that face aggravation in PMQs is not just an acceptable form of parliamentary discourse, it is both sanctioned and rewarded, a means whereby MPs may enhance their own status through aggressive facework.

Sudan's Humanitarian Disaster

As a country deeply divided along ethnic and religious lines the Sudan had already experienced large-scale violence before its independence. The Torit mutiny of 1955, the accompanying massacres in Equatoria province, and the government's brutal reprisals set the stage for what was to follow. Hostilities between northerners and southerners quickly escalated into a full-scale civil war that has lasted almost four decades. The unfulfilled promises of the Addis Ababa agreement (1972) only served to exacerbate the violence when it erupted again in 1983. Since then, civil war and the related famines and diseases have consumed one million lives, displaced more than four million people, and denuded the war zone of all health, educational, and other social services. With the extension of the war to the north, first to the Nuba Mountains, then to the southern Blue Nile, the eastern region, and finally to Darfur, Sudan has become a humanitarian disaster of epic proportions.1What involvement Canada had in the Sudan until 1998 was largely inspired by humanitarian concerns.2 Trade between the two countries was and still is virtually nonexistent, and the Canadian private sector had shown little or no interest in Sudan. As a non-core country in aid program, Sudan received hardly any assistance from CIDA in the 19703. Beginning in 1982-83 aid to Sudan jumped to more than $20 million and stayed at or near that level for almost a decade. Since 1992, when Canada suspended government-to-government bilateral aid to Sudan in response to its human rights record, and throughout most of the 19905, CIDA continued to contribute humanitarian relief, though at a reduced level of roughly $10 million annually. This aid was mainly in the form of food aid, medical supplies, seeds, and tools, and was channelled through United Nations agencies and NGOs operating under the umbrella of Operation Lifeline Sudan as well as through the International Committee of the Red Cross.It was thus in response to the prolonged drought of the 19803, the reemerging civil war after 1983, and the escalation of human rights abuses after the National Islamic Front seized power in 1989 that Canada slowly became more involved in Sudan's affairs, extending humanitarian assistance, expressing our opposition to human rights violations by Khartoum through the United Nations, and encouraging and supporting the peace process launched by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) in 1993-94. As Lloyd Axworthy, then foreign minister, said in 1999, Canada's commitment to human security, particularly the protection of civilians in armed conflict, provides the basis for its involvement in Sudan.' With so few interests there, Canada had no reason to establish a diplomatic mission in Khartoum, at least not until 2000. Any consular or diplomatic concerns were handled from Cairo until 1986 and, since then, from Addis Ababa.Talisman's announcement in August 1998 of its friendly takeover of Arakis Energy's 25 percent interest in the Sudan's Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Company (GNPOC) changed all that. Within a year Talisman's operation in the Sudan had become a public relations disaster, both for the company and for the government of Canada. Notwithstanding the repeated denials of its officials, Talisman did contribute to the massive displacement of people on and around the drilling site and undermine the peace process. As for the Canadian government, failure to speak out against Talisman, let alone take any action against it, began to erode Ottawa's credibility and raise questions about its commitment to human security. Opposition members of parliament, Canadian churches, and NGOs with an African involvement, as well as a small band of knowledgeable journalists and academics began to ask how Axworthy could talk about protecting the rights of Sudanese citizens and working towards a peaceful settlement of the civil war when a Canadian company was seen to contribute to the abnegation of those very same ends. …

Thailand: A Moment of Transition

Never before in modern Thai political history has a civilian government sustained its full term in office. However, Chuan Leekpai has achieved this, albeit with a weakening of his credibility. In other words, he and his government struggled to complete the full term, in the face of serious criticism and outright challenges from various sectors. At the beginning of 2000, the Chuan government survived no-confidence votes, especially on the motion of a false declaration of assets by his Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Affairs, and concurrendy the General Secretary of his Democrat Party, Sanan Kachornprasart. When the case of Sanan was first submitted to the National Counter Corruption Commission (NCCC), and then forwarded to the Constitutional Court, Sanan was found guilty. The opposition Members of Parliament (MPs), mosdy from the New Aspiration Party (NAP), tried to use this verdict to force Chuan to declare the dissolution of Parliament by their en masse resignation from the House in June.1 Neither the politicians nor others could successfully pressure him into an early resignation, however. They had to wait until 9 November, only eight days before the official termination of government at full term, when Chuan finally declared the dissolution of Parliament. The elections were held on 6 January 2001. There were people who had come to believe that there was no alternative to the old style of politics, and that the sluggish election procedure operating under the umbrella of the Election Commission (EC) would delay the election results. There were others who expected that the elections would bring about a political transition towards democratization. If the elections had failed, it could have been seen as a setback for democracy not only in Thailand but also in Southeast Asia.2 The end of the Chuan government marked a constitutional transition from the old constitution to the new one promulgated in 1997. The new constitution alters the parliamentary composition, which used to comprise of 393 members. It now consists of 500 members ? 400 elected individually via

Bangladesh in 1995: Politics of Intransigence

By the end of 1995, the political impasse engendered early the previous year by the opposition parties' parliamentary boycott still had not been resolved. Neither the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) nor the opposition Awami League (AL), Jatiya Party (JP), and Jamati-Islami (JI) had budged appreciably from their positions, removing any possibility of a viable solution. Opposition Members of Parliament resigned en masse in December 1994, and Parliament was dissolved November 22, 1995, three months before the end of its regular five-year term. In the society, an unprecedented deterioration of law and order created a high level of public insecurity and risked the survival of democracy. Amid the political vendettas and protracted battles for power, economic growth remained low and even threatened the survival of growing industries such as garments.' Foreign investment also continued to remain shy.

Ethnicity, Partisanship, and Legislative Activity in Malaysia

This is a study of the patterns of participation by Members of Parliament in Malaysia in debate on the Supply Bill and the Question Hour in three legislative sessions. Variations of participation are explained in terms of MPs' ethnic backgrounds and partisan affiliations. It is found that MPs in Malaysia made extensive use of the debate on the Supply Bill and the Question Hour, with the latter activity increasing significantly over time. The highest level of participation, particularly in raising questions, was found among the opposition MPs. Among the opposition Members, but not among the Government backbenchers, the MPs belonging to racial minorities were most active. The British parliamentary system has been transplanted to many of the nations that were formerly British colonies, but the institutions and procedures that worked so well in London have not inevitably or consistently been successful in other countries. This is a study of two important parliamentary procedures, debate on the Supply Bill and the Question Hour, as they have developed in Malaysia. In any country where parliamentary institutions are new, a major question is whether Members of Parliament (MPs) will have opportunities to debate policies and to question and criticize the government, and whether the MPs will use such opportunities effectively. The fact that parliamentary rules permit such procedures does not mean that the Government will allow much time for debate and questions, or that the norms of parliament or of the party or parties will encourage MPs to engage in such activities. Moreover, if the Government remains unresponsive to points raised in debate or questions, the members may eventually abandon their efforts to make use of these procedures. A starting point in evaluating these parliamentary procedures in Malaysia is a simple quantitative study of the extent of their use by various groups of Members. MPs can make a valuable contribution to the legislative process and to fair and efficient administration by taking an active part in such parliamentary forums as debate on the Supply Bill and Question Hour. As a prime form of deliberation, debates help to contribute to the management of conflict (Jewell and Patterson, 1973, p. 7). The debate on the annual Supply Bill in Malaysia is the single most important and continuous event in the