Parliamentary Hearings Research Articles

Public opinion towards interest groups: The differential impact of ties to cause and business groups

AbstractInterest groups are often included as key actors in consultation processes, with the aim of making policy more effective, fair and representative. At the same time, their influence is frequently viewed with suspicion. This research note uses survey experiments in Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States (N = 9,357) to explore how the ties citizens hold to different types of interest groups affect their perceived legitimacy of involving them in parliamentary hearings. We find that affective, behavioural and attitudinal ties shape how citizens evaluate the representation of groups, but that there are important differences between ties to different group types: ties to cause groups representing societal interests are more consequential than ties to business interests. These findings underline important heterogeneity in how different interest groups relate to their constituencies and have implications for accountability relationships between citizens and policymakers. The heightened sensitivity of citizens with ties to cause groups regarding their representation underscores the need to actively nurture and involve these groups in policy making.

Talking past each other: Institutional complexity in public projects

Large-scale public projects often experience delays and cost overruns, in part because they require extensive coordination between numerous organizations, both private and public. In this paper, we draw on the perspective of new institutionalism to explore differences between stakeholders in large-scale projects. We develop a topic modeling approach based on a state-of-the-art computational text analysis technique and apply it to a set of transcripts from parliamentary select committee hearings in the United Kingdom to uncover cultural-cognitive differences that reflect a variety of institutional logics. The application of this technique to four different projects reveals significant institutional differences between groups of actors. We argue that greater awareness of these institutional differences may support attempts to understand why large-scale projects experience such significant management challenges and how such challenges could be addressed. We use data for the period 2000–2019 from two different sectors, defence, and public transport.

The activities of the CPSU in support of the international communist movement (based on the data of the press and parliamentary hearings)

The activities of the CPSU in support of the international communist movement (based on the data of the press and parliamentary hearings)

Проблемы и находки депутатов «лихих 90-х»: к 30-летию Народного Хурала Республики Бурятия

A special problem in the work of deputies of regional parliaments of the "dashing 90s" was the constant lack of budget funds for vital social programs, education and health care. The nonpayment of salaries for several months, primarily to teachers and doctors, was difficult to overcome; the unfair privatization of public and state property, the real events of the consequences of the war in Chechnya of 1994-1998, unbridled crime, etc. A special Khural laboratory was established in the structure of the National Academy of Sciences and operated throughout the first convocation. The surveys allowed us to better understand people's psychology, their specific daily aspirations, diagnose their mood and attitude to emerging situations. A truthful and honest diagnosis of public opinion made it possible in some cases to make decisions and legislative acts consistent with the situation. At the fourth session, the symbols of the republic – the coat of arms and the anthem – were adopted, the work on the preparation of projects of which took a long time. Deputies of the People's Khural of the Republic of Buryatia managed to hold two parliamentary hearings in Ulan-Ude together with deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation: on the draft law "On Lake Baikal" (1994) and "On the plan of priority measures for the implementation of the concept of State National Policy of the Russian Federation" (1996). In both hearings, they adopted The participation of "neighbors": deputies of the Legislative Assembly of the Irkutsk region, representatives of the administration of the Ust-Ordynsky Buryat Autonomous Okrug.

FACTORS OF PROFESSIONAL BURNOUT OF TEACHERS AS A SYSTEM MANAGEMENT PROBLEM IN THE SPHERE OF EDUCATION

The article examines the factors of professional burnout of teachers in Russia and Bashkortostan, including on the basis of a survey conducted by the working group of the Institute for Strategic Studies of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus to discuss the optimization of the load on teachers of general education organizations at the Parliamentary hearings of the State Assembly - Kurultai of the Republic of Bashkortostan. Burnout factors are considered: features of the teaching profession, uncontrollable and increased workload, quality of feedback (support from the administration, relations with parents), lack of clarity of roles (changes in requirements) and freedom in decision-making, work experience, age, gender factor. It is concluded the problem of professional burnout is associated with the management system in the field of education, the level of wages, non-standardized and uncontrolled workload, lack of prevention and timely assistance, as well as, to a small extent, the gender factor. This means that the solution of the issue should be systemic and complex.

The realities of Medical Assistance in Dying in Canada.

To examine the impact of the Canadian MAiD program and analyze its safeguards. A working group of physicians from diverse practice backgrounds and a legal expert, several with bioethics expertise, reviewed Canadian MAiD data and case reports. Grey literature was also considered, including fact-checked and reliable Canadian mainstream newspapers and parliamentary committee hearings considering the expansion of MAiD. Several scientific studies and reviews, provincial and correctional system authorities have identified issues with MAiD practice. As well, there is a growing accumulation of narrative accounts detailing people getting MAiD due to suffering associated with a lack of access to medical, disability, and social support. The Canadian MAiD regime is lacking the safeguards, data collection, and oversight necessary to protect Canadians against premature death. The authors have identified these policy gaps and used MAiD cases to illustrate these findings.

How TalkTalk did the walk-walk: strategic reputational repair in a cyber-attack

PurposeCyber-attacks that generate technical disruptions in organisational operations and damage the reputation of organisations have become all too common in the contemporary organisation. This paper explores the reputation repair strategies undertaken by organisations in the event of becoming victims of cyber-attacks.Design/methodology/approachFor developing the authors’ contribution in the context of the Internet service providers' industry, the authors draw on a qualitative case study of TalkTalk, a British telecommunications company providing business to business (B2B) and business to customer (B2C) Internet services, which was a victim of a “significant and sustained” cyber-attack in October 2015. Data for the enquiry is sourced from publicly available archival documents such as newspaper articles, press releases, podcasts and parliamentary hearings on the TalkTalk cyber-attack.FindingsThe findings suggest a dynamic interplay of technical and rhetorical responses in dealing with cyber-attacks. This plays out in the form of marshalling communication and mortification techniques, bolstering image and riding on leader reputation, which serially combine to strategically orchestrate reputational repair and stigma erasure in the event of a cyber-attack.Originality/valueAnalysing a prototypical case of an organisation in dire straits following a cyber-attack, the paper provides a systematic characterisation of the setting-in-motion of strategic responses to manage, revamp and ameliorate damaged reputation during cyber-attacks, which tend to negatively shape the evaluative perceptions of the organisation's salient audience.

Unwritten rules shaping the EU's ‘form of government’: A study of conventions and their constitutional implications

The debate on the conventions of the constitution has led to a variety of tools for analysing institutional practices in national governments. Few attempts have been made to identify relevant political rules in the EU's ‘form of government’. This paper argues the applicability of the conventional theory in understanding the EU's most recent constitutional developments by comparing the common law and continental understandings of conventions. It highlights the different features attached to conventions in various national experiences and offers a fresh view of them to take the most out of this notion, long forlorn in EU studies. Using three practical experiences (trilogues, parliamentary hearings for Commissioners-designate and the Spitzenkandidaten practice), the paper shows how unwritten rules can shape the EU's political or material constitution up to the point of bringing concrete informal changes without any formal Treaty amendment.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AS IM/MOBILITY: PRE-LIMIRARY THOUGHTS ON UNDERSTANDING THE USE OF AI IN IMMIGRATION SYSTEMS

Technology, including artificial intelligence in im/migration service delivery and migration management have been widely deployed in EuroAmerica (Mongia, 2018; Walia, 2021). In Canada, Immigration Refugee Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has, in the past few years, secretly piloted an in-house built AI system for triaging im/migrant applications from China, India and the Philippines (Molnar & Gill, 2018). The 2 million immigration applications backlog in part caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been used as a justification to accelerate the push for the adoption of AI in im/migration affairs stating the need to modernize, optimize and expedite immigration affairs. Building on AoIR 2022’s theme, I take a decolonial approach to the study of AI and im/migration issues. I follow the claim made by decolonial scholars (El-Nany, 2020) that it is necessary to go back in history in order to better understand current power relations, systemic racism and patriarchy, the ongoing dispossession and forced im/mobility of racialized populations located in the global South. I conceptualize the use of AI as immobility to show how populations become testing grounds to decide who is worthy of im/mobility. Methodologically, this conference paper is informed by access to information requests made to the government of Canada to shed light on the use of AI systems within the IRCC. In addition, this paper relies on desk research including newspaper articles, blog posts and podcasts by and with immigration lawyers, and parliamentary hearings.

Emotional burnout of teachers as a factor of their professional inefficiency

The problem of schoolteachers’ emotional burnout and of the personal and professional deformation associated with it is relevant for the pedagogical community all over the world, and Russia is no exception. According to special studies, in 2020, 75 % of schoolteachers in Russia had clear symptoms of burnout, and 38 % were in its acute phase - when burnout significantly affects the quality of life and the ability to work. For any profession, but to a greater extent for the socially oriented (helping) one including schoolteachers, emotional burnout has negative consequences for the ‘burnt out’ specialist, for his colleagues and for his students. The article presents the results of the sociological study of the issues of improving the professional-pedagogical activities of teachers in the Republic of Bashkortostan, which was conducted in April-June 2022 as part of the data for the parliamentary hearings in the State Assembly - Kurultai of the Republic of Bashkortostan (N = 4529). Respondents proportionally represented four groups of schools: Ufa, other cities of the region, centers of municipalities, and villages. The article aims at assessing the scale and forms of emotional burnout among schoolteachers in the region and at identifying the factors-causes (personal and organizational-professional) of its symptoms, negative consequences of burnout in relation to working conditions, and measures to minimize and prevent such consequences. The problem of burnout is determined not so much by individual causes as by management practices inherent in the education system, wages, irregular and uncontrolled workload, and the features of the profession which implies the risk of burnout. The author believes that the scale of emotional burnout of schoolteachers requires a research approach based on the interdisciplinary methodology. Moreover, it is important not only to study the problem but also to propose reasonable measures to help schoolteachers to get out of the burnout condition, and, most importantly, to improve the organization of work in schools: analysis of business processes in school and their optimization, limiting the number of extracurricular activities, increasing the availability of medical and psychological assistance, diagnostics of burnout and providing assistance based on its results.

Відносини «лікар - пацієнт - рідні пацієнта»: проблеми правового регулювання

The abstracts are stated as a consequence of the conclusions approved by the decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine «On the Recommendations of the Parliamentary Hearings on the topic: «Organization of the anti-cancer fight in Ukraine. Problems and the ways to solve them» from 02.09.2020 № 862-IX, and the World Health Assembly Resolution «Cancer prevention and control in the context of an integrated approach» (WHA70.12) dated by 2017. In particular, the Resolution calls on governments and the World Health Organization to accelerate actions aimed at achieving the goals mentioned in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution A/70/L.1 on 25 September 2015, in order to reduce premature deaths from cancer. One of the key points of this Resolution is to call on countries to develop standards and tools for management of planning and implementation of activities in the field of prevention, early diagnosis, screening, cancer treatment, as well as palliative care and assistance to people after treatment, including children with cancer. The difficult situation with the provision of palliative care to cancer patients in the terminal stage of the disease, the lack of sufficient material base and qualified staff requires additional involvement of the patient’s relatives and persons supervising them in the assistance. Improvement and clear legislative regulation of legal norms that in one way or another affect the effective construction of the relationships «doctor-patient-patient relative» should be the key to achievement of the maximum effect. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.

International Taxation, Globalization, and the Economic Digital Divide

ABSTRACT The past decade has witnessed the creation of a new international tax regime. The original international tax regime was created a century ago by the League of Nations. Until the 1980s, it functioned reasonably well and prevented most instances of double taxation and double non-taxation by allocating cross-border income between home and host jurisdictions based on a compromise reached in 1923. However, since the advent of globalization in the 1980s and digitalization in the 1990s, the original international tax regime ceased to function as intended. The main problems were the increased mobility of capital related to increased intangibility and digitalization, together with a relaxation of capital controls and increased tax competition. These developments posed a problem for countries that wished to leave their borders open to reap the benefits of globalization and to engage in tax competition to attract investment. The outcome was a significant fall in tax revenues that threatened the social safety net of the modern welfare state. The trilemma of open borders, tax competition, and satisfying voters’ demand for social insurance culminated in the financial crisis of 2008–09, where many countries were forced to implement austerity measures at the same time that parliamentary hearings, leaks, and media reports revealed that rich individuals and large corporations were paying very little tax on cross-border income. The results over the past decade have been the creation of a new international tax regime designed to curb both tax evasion by the rich and tax competition among countries seeking to attract business activity within their borders by granting various preferential tax provisions to multinational enterprises. The key question going forward is how the new international tax regime will deal with international (in)equity, i.e. the economic digital divide. In what follows, I will first discuss the decline of the original international tax regime from 1980 to 2009, then the creation of the new international tax regime from 2010 on, and finally the implications of the new international tax regime for the economic digital divide.

Chapitre 2. La loi de bioéthique : un enjeu de démocratie sanitaire

The law of bioethics defines the judicial framework for governing medical practices and research involving the human body and the embryo. Does any scientific or technologic innovation warrant a modification of the law? To respond to this question, a preliminary reflection is necessary so as to define new equilibria which respect ethical principles, the promotion of solidarity with respect for the autonomy of each person.The CCNE is charged with organizing public debate, in the form of a general assembly of bioethics, with the support of regional spaces of ethical reflection. This extensive experience took place from January to June 2018 and lead to several lessons, notably the strong expression of a need for information and a critical vision of the notion of medical progress.Then, the parliamentary instruction and hearings that accompanied it, from 24 July 2019 to 2 August 2021, contributed developments to the initial bill. Thus, the periodic review of the law of bioethics is now based on citizen participation in the construction of legislative arbitration, demonstrating the French way of social participation.

Analysis of cabbage production in Russia

Relevance. The article analyzes the indicators of white cabbage production in Russia (by districts, subjects of the federation and categories of farms).Methodology. The object of research is the market for the production of white cabbage. The subject of the study is the current state of white cabbage production. The information base of the study was made up of data from FAO, official state statistics, the Federal Customs Service, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, Parliamentary hearings of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Eurasian Economic Commission, operational online messages of federal and regional levels, materials of periodicals, scientific seminars, conferences, symposiums, reflecting various aspects of the problem under study.Results. In the industrial sector of vegetable growing, the acreage of cabbage of all types in 2021, in relation to 2020, decreased by 15.8%. Over the past ten years, there has been a decrease in acreage and gross cabbage harvest in farms of all categories. There are a number of systemic problems in Russian vegetable growing that limit the increase in vegetable production and negatively affect its effectiveness: weak technical and material equipment of a significant part of farms engaged in vegetable production, outdated technical base, insufficient provision of crops with seeds of domestic production. One of the leading roles in the implementation of the policy of food security and national independence is played by the selection and seed production of white cabbage. Sanctions make it possible to carry out import substitution of varieties and hybrids of white cabbage. To date, the main task is to abandon the import of seeds of foreign selection, and therefore it is important to focus on creating new hybrids that will be of high quality, good yield, as well as resistance to diseases and pests. Modern hybrids of breeding FGBNU FNTSO and Agrofirm "Poisk" according to the results of testing in leading agricultural organizations fully meet the requirements of the market and can take a worthy place in the fields in the Russian Federation.

The Elusive Quest for French on the Bench: Bilingualism Scores for Canadian Supreme Court Justices, 1985–2013

AbstractThis article explores normative arguments for mandatory judicial bilingualism. It disentangles the links between the normative reasons advanced for mandatory bilingualism and the correlative level of French that should be expected of judges. To provide empirical anchoring, we construct a bilingualism score of Canadian Supreme Court justices composed of four indicators. The score shows that non-systematic assessments used so far like self-assessments, parliamentary hearings and media coverage are not reliable instruments to predict the level of use of French on the Supreme Court. Also, the score suggests that institutional dynamics have an impact worth studying in more depth. Ultimately, the measurement of functional bilingualism depends first on which linguistic capacity is being measured. This, in turn, depends on the normative reasons supporting the requirement of functional bilingualism. Instead of asking whether French should be mandatory upon appointment, it might be more productive to ask how much French should be required.

Legal institute of lobbying: the problem of legislative regulation in Ukraine

The article examines the problem of legislative regulation of the socio-political institution of lobbying in Ukraine on the basis of borrowing similar experience from developed democracies using the dialectical method. It is noted that lobbying should be considered as one of the democratic institutions of influence of the public and business structures on decision-making by public authorities (representation of interests), namely as a professional mediation activity between society and government. Legislative regulation of the institution of lobbying in Ukraine may not restrict other rights of citizens regarding their influence on the authorities, which are guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine and defined by national legislation (for example, the right to appeal to the authorities, the right to participate in the management of public affairs through advisory bodies, parliamentary hearings, public discussions, etc.). It is concluded that the most pressing aspects of the problem of legal institutionalization of lobbying in Ukraine, which need to be addressed, are the following: development of theoretical-methodological foundations of lobbying in national political-legal realities, taking into account similar foreign experience; a comprehensive approach to the legislative regulation of lobbying activities at all levels of public authority, and on the basis of clear harmonization of lobbying rules with legislation in related areas; legislative definition of the concept and all components of lobbying activities, the legal status of lobbyists; particular attention should be paid to the development of ethical rules for the lobbying profession, which should be based on the principles of legality, transparency, openness and integrity.

Does the European Central Bank speak differently when in parliament?

ABSTRACT Parliamentary hearings are a fundamental tool to hold independent central banks accountable. However, it is not clear what type of information central banks provide when they communicate with parliaments. In this article, we compare the communication of the European Central Bank (ECB) in parliamentary hearings to its communication in the press conferences. Using text analysis on the ECB President’s introductory statements in parliamentary hearings and press conferences from 1998 to 2021, we show that the ECB uses hearings to discuss topics that are less covered in press conferences. We also find that the ECB’s policy stance in the hearings tend to reflect the stance in press conferences, and that the degree of language complexity is similar in the two fora. These findings suggest that the ECB mainly uses parliamentary hearings to further explain policy decisions first presented at press conferences but also to put them in a broader context.

Conflicts of Legitimacies in Representative Institutions: The Case of the French Citizen Convention for Climate

ABSTRACT Conceived as an alternative form of democratic representation, the random selection of citizens for a political task comes in tension with the logic of electoral representation. The idea, carried by random selection, that anyone can be a good enough representative challenges the assumption that we need to choose the most competent among ourselves. And the fact that citizens’ assemblies are sometimes tasked to draft legislation may undermine the authority of elected representatives. This article tests this hypothesis of tension between competing forms of representation on a recent case: the French Citizen Convention for Climate (CCC) in 2020. Drawing on parliamentary hearings and questions as well as public political reactions to the CCC, we find indications that elected representatives may feel threatened in their legitimacy even when most randomly selected citizens do not see themselves as representatives. This may be due to the fact that the CCC was seen by some as stepping on the prerogatives of the Parliament. This suggests that future experiments of the sort could benefit from a clearer functional division between the two forms of representation.

Transatlantic Ties of the Far Right: The NSU Case in Germany and its Links to Actors and Incidents in the USA

ABSTRACT The “National Socialist Underground” (NSU) is one of the most severe cases of terrorism in Germany after World War II. For more than twelve years, three neo-Nazis had lived under false identities in Germany. The group murdered ten people and committed several crimes. At first sight, this seems to be a case of domestic terrorism, but a closer look exposes transnational facets and turns it into an example of transatlantic ties between far-right groups. In their strategy and in their ideology, the German neo-Nazis and their circle of friends and supporters have been influenced by actors and incidents in the U.S. As the article shows, a powerful tradition of anti-Americanism in the milieu of Germany’s far right does not contradict an alliance of anti-Semites and white supremacists in both countries. Drawing on police files, intelligence reports, parliamentary hearings and court proceedings, the article lays out and analyzes the intertwining of German and U.S. militant right-wing actors. It examines references and connections to the Ku Klux Klan, “The Turner Diaries,” and to the U.S. terrorist group “The Order.”

‘Out-Europeanising’ the Competition: Armenian Genocide Recognition in Bulgaria

Building on Europeanisation scholarship, this article unpacks the instrumental rhetoric of Armenian genocide recognition in Bulgaria. In Bulgaria’s 2015 parliamentary hearings on the issue, diverse political actors—from liberal to nationalist political party members—formed unlikely coalitions and strategically instrumentalised Armenian genocide recognition as a way to signal ‘Europeanisation’ in pursuing very distinct ends.