Parliamentary Work Research Articles

The Role of Constitutional Review to Determine the Emergency Operation of Parliaments: the Most Recent Lessons to be Learned

Abstract Based on a recently published English-language global database on constitutional case law linked to the global pandemic, my contribution aims at analysing the currently underestimated link between constitutional review and the emergency operation of parliaments. Although the fact, that huge research endeavors have been devoted to the evaluation of parliamentary solutions adapting to the Covid-19 pandemic, the role of constitutional review has not been understood more deeply in this process until now. However, several constitutional constitutional courts have heard significant matters of parliamentary law during and shortly after the public health emergency, and despite the mostly deferential character of constitutional/supreme courts, the relevant rulings from around the world provided meaningful orientations how to describe rliamentary margin of movement to regulate internal structure and organisation during such extraordinary periods. This contribution will enumerate such constitutional/supreme court decisions and will assess their added value to maintain effective parliamentary work under the shadow of unprecedented challenges.

Interpreting parliaments, but how?: Centring parliamentary actors and settings in ethnographic design and practice

Do researchers that use ethnographic methods study parliaments and parliamentary actors in the same way? While parliamentary ethnography is a growing research methodology to study political phenomena, such as informality, political behaviour and interpretations of parliamentary work, less is said about how access to sites and actors may affect analytical foci, strategies and outcomes. This neglects the complexity of parliamentary organisation and distinctive practices of parliamentary actors. We draw attention to this complexity to investigate how different levels and types of access to parliaments, and actors therein, affect ethnographic research. We reflect on this issue through four themes: (1) entry and access, (2) adapting to organisational rhythms, (3) ethnographic capital of researchers and (4) analysis and publication of findings. We argue that there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way of undertaking ethnographies of parliaments, but emphasise that researchers must explicitly reflect on how their particular strategies may shape ethnographic research on parliaments.

Before and after. Italian MPs and political communication

ABSTRACT The crisis of political representation has several explanations, including the collapse of trust in political institutions and the weakening of the role of the party as an intermediary between voters and elected representatives. This is counterbalanced by a strategy of individual representation pursued by politicians. This article aims to examine representation in Italy through a highly innovative approach, that of the strategic communication of the elected during the electoral campaign and in office: not only the parliamentary work of the elected, but also the overall analysis of the electoral campaign and constituency communication. The study identifies changes in representation, including functional and thematic autonomy from the party, personalization of activities, promotion of independent communication tools, and party-independent agendas. It also highlights the backstage structuring of a new relationship between voters and elected representatives in politics. A study conducted on 150 Italian parliamentarians in Chamber of Deputies (17th Legislature, 2013–18) revealed varying logics of representation based on their political affiliation, career paths, and individual characteristics.

Practice makes ‘perfect’? The effect of committee specialization on the complexity of parliamentary speeches

Abstract The complexity of parliamentary speeches is usually interpreted as an MP’s electoral strategy. We take the prism of parliamentary specialization and connect it to the use of issue-specific jargon learned during parliamentary work. We expect that membership in a parliamentary committee and increased experience within it increases the complexity of an MP’s speech about committee-related issues, and that the effect of the work in the committee is stronger for MPs without a previous committee-related professional background. We test our expectations on almost 54,000 speeches in the Czech Chamber of Deputies (2006–2021), using the Flesch Reading Ease formula adapted for the Czech language. The novel dataset connects parliamentary speeches to personal information about the MPs and to responsible committees. The results show the expected effect of committee membership and committee experience, and the interaction effect of a professional background.

What do voters want from their legislators? evidence from ghana

Abstract Legislators make trade-offs when allocating their time and resources to their multiple tasks of representation, legislation, executive oversight, and constituency service. Furthermore, they must decide how much effort to exert or the balance to strike when undertaking a specific function. Existing research provides limited insights into citizens’ preferences over these officeholder multifaceted decisions in sub-Saharan Africa. I offer novel insights into citizens’ preferences using a conjoint survey experiment of Ghanaians to address this knowledge gap. My findings are threefold. First, I find that citizens put more ‘weight’ on constituency-related activities than parliamentary work. Second, in the constituency, citizens value political representation activities more than constituency services. Third, they weigh public-good-oriented constituency services higher than private ones. The research contributes to our understanding of citizen–legislator accountability relationships in sub-Saharan Africa.

The deteriorating legislative role of the legislature in multilevel democracies. Case of Poland

ABSTRACT Poland is a case of a state in which the role of legislative bodies in the political system has been gradually reduced at the various levels – national, regional, and local. Recently, this process has been related to executive aggrandisement observed in Poland, but the roots of this phenomenon can be traced back to the political transformation of this country observed after 1989. At the national level, the deteriorating legislative role of parliament manifests itself in four general processes: (1) The executive power treats the Sejm (lower chamber) as a subordinate institution. This involves formally introducing laws forced by the government in the form of proposals written by members of parliament (MPs) (as a way to shorten the legislative process and limit public consultations required by law); (2) Speeding up of parliamentary works – the Sejm is treated as a voting machine and not as a forum where debates and discussion take place; (3) Public consultations are superficial and the regulatory assessment impact is minimal; (4) The influence of the opposition on legislative processes is reduced to almost zero. Similar processes can be observed at the regional and local levels. The subnational legislative bodies are often under the control of executives. Instances of voting with no or limited discussions (favouring the governing majority) can be sometimes observed during the sessions of local and regional councils. This paper analyses the weakening of the legislative function in Poland at different levels, using a qualitative approach and data from desk research, media analysis, in-depth individual interviews and focus group interviews.

‘The tribunes of the people, the tongues o’ the common mouth’: parliamentarians as representatives when scrutinizing laws

ABSTRACT Shakespeare’s First Folio included publication of Coriolanus, a play that is said to be inflected by political events at the time of its writing and still so by its publication during a period the English parliament was in abeyance, having been dissolved the year before. In this paper, we take up Raffield and Watt’s (2008) invitation to consider the relationship between Shakespeare’s work and the nation-state, by considering the relationship between Coriolanus, and specifically the quasi-parliamentarian characters of the tribunes or representatives of the people, and contemporary Australian parliamentarians. We are particularly interested in how parliamentarians approach and grapple with their role as representatives of the people when undertaking human rights scrutiny of proposed laws, and explore this in relation to the tribunes’ approach to their representative role when making political decisions. We follow Raffield and Watt’s suggestion that, in early modern England, ‘government was conducted and represented as theatre’ (2008: 4) and argue that, in contemporary Australia, parliamentary work is still conducted and represented as theatre, and therefore it is necessary to adopt a theatre or performance lens when considering the ways in which parliamentarians perform their work as both representatives and legislators.

Contributions of social networking in strengthening parliamentary work

Contributions of social networking in strengthening parliamentary work

Politics of expertise in the European Parliament: discursive constructions and contestations of expertise by party-political actors

ABSTRACT This article analyses the politics of expertise in the European Parliament (EP). We aim to understand how MEPs and political group staff discursively construct expertise, its role in parliamentary work, and how expertise is politicized in the EP. The qualitative analysis is based on an extensive interview dataset (n = 133) from the 8th and 9th legislative terms. It builds on a constructivist approach that sees expertise as constructed, legitimized, and institutionalized in discourses and practices and shaped by struggles and power relations. The article shows that expertise in the EP is a political rather than a technical question. Understandings of expertise and its role are constituted and contested, and political ideologies shape understandings of expertise. Although the role of technical policy expertise in the EP is broadly accepted, it is approached through a political lens, and political groups value and use expertise in different ways in internal policymaking.

The beauty premium of politicians in office

The beauty premium in politics shows that attractive politicians are more likely to get elected to office than less attractive politicians, but little is known about whether beauty also shapes the behavior of members of parliament (MPs) once in office. We use newly collected data on the attractiveness and parliamentary activity of 866 MPs in the German Bundestag over the period 2009-2017 to examine the link between beauty and parliamentary work. Our results show that attractive MPs are more likely to be absent from parliament and less active in labor-intensive background work than others. Consistent with our hypothesis of opportunities created by attractiveness, we find that more attractive MPs have higher outside earnings and appear more often on television talk shows. Our results suggest that attractive MPs re-allocate their time from parliamentary work to other activity that increases their income and popularity.

United by history, divided by God? Religion among Dutch and Belgian members of the European Parliament

ABSTRACT Even though the European project has often been claimed to be a secular one, studies point out that the European Parliament is an arena in which a more Christian-inspired version of Europe is sometimes advocated. The question we therefore address in this contribution is what role does religion play in the parliamentary work of Dutch and Belgian MEPs? Within the larger RelEP2 project, this contribution specifically focuses on MEPs from Belgium and the Netherlands, countries in which religion has historically been one of the most prominent political cleavages. Based on surveys and an analysis of MEPs parliamentary questions, we find that the old religious conflict between Christian and secular groups is no longer dominant in Belgium and the Netherlands, although Dutch MEPs from ChristenUnie and Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij do still frequently rely on Christian values in their parliamentary work. Instead, religion has taken up a more prominent role among radical right MEPs from Belgium and the Netherlands, who primarily advocate an anti-Islam stance. Taken together, these findings suggest that there are few remnants of the old religious consociation, but rather we are seeing a politicisation of Islam is a driver of Dutch and Belgian MEPs.

The role of committees in parliamentary work: on the example of the legislative chamber of the Oliy Majlis and foreign parliaments

This article focuses on the following topics: the legal standing of the committees of the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis and foreign parliaments; the sequence in which they were formed; the committees' areas of activity; and foreign experience in the committees' work. The parliament committees play a vital role in the legislative process, oversight of the executive branch, and representation of the interests of the people. The composition and powers of parliament committees vary from country to country, but they all share the common goal of ensuring that the government is accountable to the people. The author evaluated the impact of parliamentary committees on the quality of legislation and the effectiveness of oversight. The author considered the challenges facing parliament committees in Uzbekistan and foreign countries. Despite these challenges, he concluded that parliamentary committees play an essential role in a democratic society. Also, in this article, suggestions and recommendations are given for improving the activities of the committees.

The Human Rights Action Plan and Turkey’s Non-Muslim Minorities

On March 2021, Turkey’s President announced a new Human Rights Action Plan (HRAP), supported by the Council of Europe, to reform the judiciary system and strengthen democratic participation. Although the rights claims of Kurds and Alevis have been prominent, HRAP mentions neither by name. Instead, it includes articles about improving the rights of religious minorities by fighting discrimination and hate, to advance pluralism, revising the Foundations Law regarding the establishment and election of boards of directors of non-Muslim community associations, and providing leave for religious holidays regardless of faith. Given the current distrust between non-Muslim groups and the Turkish state, this study analyzed the political attitudes of Turkey’s non-Muslim minorities to understand how they develop creative solutions to protect their rights. To do so, we interviewed Armenian deputies in Turkey’s parliament and prominent figures from the Greek-Orthodox, Armenian, and Jewish communities, and also reviewed the minority deputies’ parliamentary work in depth between 2015 and 2021. We found that HRAP was widely discussed by both minority and opposition parliamentary deputies. However, they did not strongly welcome any of its provisions because the government had previously ignored or delayed their demands. 

Индийский национальный конгресс в годы генерал-губернаторства лорда Лэнсдауна (1888–1894): проблемы развития

Introduction. The article is devoted to the study of the main activities of the Indian National Congress (INC) during the reign of Viceroy Lansdowne. During this period, the main objects of the Congress were official recognition by the colonial administration and the expansion of propaganda work in Britain. But Congress also had several internal problems, such as an undeveloped organizational structure and controversies over unresolved social problems in India. Methods and materials. Based on reports on the annual sessions of the INC and the Indian and British press, the article examines the main problems of the development of the INC in 1888– 1894, the reasons for the increased activity of the Congress in England and the process of the emergence of the Congress’ branches in London and the Indian Parliamentary Committee, and the peculiarities of the relationship between Congress and the colonial administration. Analysis. The Viceroy’s views on Congress and their differences from the previous course of the Indian government are analyzed. The specifics of the activities of the INC in Great Britain are revealed. Particular attention is paid to the parliamentary work of the Congress. The reasons for the intensification of internal contradictions in the INC in the early 1890s are investigated. Results. It is concluded that Viceroy Lansdowne’s refusal to abandon the repressive policy towards the Congress contributed to the progressive development of the Congress, which manifested itself in the revitalization of its activities in Great Britain. However, the development was accompanied by the strengthening of internal organizational contradictions and the beginning of the formation of a Congress’ radical wing.

Mandat przedstawicielski we współczesnym państwie burżuazyjno-demokratycznym (Francja, RFN)

An independent mandate, in the sense formulated by the classical theory of representation, appears only in the constitutional principles of bourgeois-democratic states. Constitutions still create such a model of a deputy who is independent of any constituency and represents ’’the whole nation” — an abstract nation, detached from vital public interests, which are generally represented by particular groups of society. When it is considered how numerous and differentiated are the links of the deputy with his constituency, it seems to be possible to point out the most general properties of the mandate of a deputy in the present-day bourgeois-democratic state. The more so that they reappear in various countries in spite of changed circumstances. The following features can be mentioned:1. Under the provisions of the law the deputy is independent of the indications and instructions of any constituency; he is guided by his own conscience, since he represents the whole nation. The legal indépendance of the deputy is particularly important in case of conflicts.2. Actually, however, the deputy is dependent on his party which put him up as a candidate. He is under moral and political obligation to follow the guidelines and implement the party policy. The degree of his dependence varies with respect to different countries.3. The deputy keeps in touch with the citizens, particularly in his constituency, though he is under no legal obligation to do so. It is due to his political and moral obligation that he intercedes with the administration for his constituency or particular constituents, further he gets acquainted with their opinions on general issues and keeps them informed as to both parliamentary activities. His function is a very important link of the political communication between those who rule and the ruled ones. However this relationship is considerably one-sided: the deputy is active, whereas the constituents seem to be mere “consumers” of the results of his activities; they do not exact his activities and do not attempt at affecting his standpoint, they cannot avail of any sanction ever until a new election. Since it is the party that stimulates and organizes the contacts between the deputy and his constituency, and has many measures to influence him, it is the party that becomes the deputy’s mandatory and not the constituents — in the narrow sense of a constituency or in the wide Sense — citizens, a nation, who, according to the constitution are the subject to the sovereign authority.4. The deputy represents concrete social interests of his constituents, milieu, union or a group, finally the interests of his party. The interests are often contradictory and it is the task of the parliamentary work to correlate them.The above picture is quite distant from the traditional portrayal of a deputy who has an independent mandate. However, it is much closer to reality.

Right-wing populist education policy in a social democratic welfare state context

ABSTRACT The article analyses the education ideologies and policies of two Danish right-wing populist political parties, the Danish People’s Party and the New Right Party. The two parties differ in their political trajectories and profiles, but both represent a right-wing populism emphasizing the opposition between the people on the one hand and the elite and its alliance with foreigners on the other. In a national context with a strong welfare state tradition, right-wing populism has gained considerable influence on other political parties including the Social Democrats. In mapping the education policy of the two parties, the article draws on partisan political manifesto texts prepared for the 2019 general election, on studies of voter attitudes in that election and on position taking of parties in parliamentary work. It is concluded that the education policies of the two parties focus mainly on the content of education, emphasizing national and Christian values and presenting foreigners and immigrants, especially from predominantly Muslim countries, as threats. Education does not feature strongly in the work of these parties, but their views still have an impact. The example of the Danish People’s Party shows this; it has secured parliamentary majority for Liberal-Conservative governments and influenced their education policies.

THE RESTRAINING ORDER. SELECTED OBSERVATIONS FROM THE AREA OF SUBSTANTIVE, PROCEDURAL, AND ENFORCEMENT LAW

The paper discusses the restraining order, an instrument which is currentlypresent in three Polish penal codes, namely, the Penal Code, theCode of Penal Procedure, and the Penal Enforcement Code. Therefore,it should be considered a widely-used instrument of criminal policy. Thegenesis of its introduction into the legal order is rather surprising, as theproposal to implement this type of measure appeared only at a fairly advancedstage of parliamentary works. The main objective of the paper isto show the current shape of the main provisions regulating the restrainingorder in the particular codes and attempt to answer the question whetherthese provisions are sufficient, thus assessing the potential of the order.

Can women take the floor in parliament? Evidence from the Spanish lower chamber

Women's numeric representation has increased worldwide, still gender inequalities within parliaments hinder women's chance to effectively conduct legislative work. Despite the varied range of institutional designs aimed at enforcing gender equality in the electoral process in several liberal democracies, the path to gender equality in MP participation is still far from straightforward. The variation in the institutional mechanisms to enforce legal quotas, electoral systems, and party strategies has led to mixed conclusions regarding the relationship between women's descriptive representation and their level of parliamentary work. This article explores to what extent an institutional reform designed to enforce equal gender representation in parliament fosters equality in gender MP participation. To do so, we use individual-level data of the Spanish lower chamber (Congreso de los Diputados) during four legislative terms (2000–2016). The case is relevant because it offers a clear-cut example of the introduction of a legal gender quota for legislative elections in a political system strongly controlled by party organizations.

The determinants of the media coverage of politicians: The role of parliamentary activities

AbstractA large strand of scholarly inquiry has built on the assumption that being active in legislatures helps further representatives’ career prospects by enhancing their media and public visibility. Previous studies suggest some visibility‐boosting effects of parliamentary work, but results vary considerably across political settings and research designs. Moreover, there is little research on the extent to which the visibility‐boosting effect of being active in parliament varies across representatives. Specifically, do legislators with high news value benefit more from legislative speechmaking, or can other representatives make up for lower news value by taking the parliamentary floor? We believe that this lack of focus on the conditional nature of the link between political work and media visibility restricts our understanding of the consequences of political work. This study therefore presents a unique combination of data covering nearly 600,000 news appearances and 850,000 parliamentary speeches of members of parliament (MPs) in the United Kingdom (2000–2015) and Norway (2000–2016) to examine the link between legislative speechmaking and the news visibility of legislators. Our results suggest that the media appearances of representatives in the United Kingdom and Norway are associated positively with the number of legislative speeches representatives make and that this positive association between speechmaking and media visibility is differential across groups of representatives, with senior MPs and government party MPs benefiting more from being active on the parliamentary floor.

The Behaviour of Activating of Information Tools of Shura Council Members in The Sultanate of Oman and Facilitating The Challenges That Facing Them

The study of the behaviour of activating of information tools of Shura Council members in the Sultanate of Oman and facilitating challenges facing them adopted the qualitative approach to achieve its goals through semi-structured interviews with the Council members of the 9th term (2019-2023). It consists of a sample study of twenty-eight members representing 32.5% of the student community. This study aims to investigate how to facilitate search tools of information of Members of Shura Council in Sultanate of Oman and the challenges facing them. The result showed that members of the Shura council were looking for information for parliamentary work and they used multiple tools and methods to obtain the information needed for their parliamentary work. It was also revealed that the members of the Shura council was keen to use the information in debates, officials' interviews, and media interviews. The study presented a set of recommendations for improving the information of the work in the Shura council and the work to adopt a law for the right of freedom of information, and activating the role of the Oman Council Library to serve parliamentary work.