Parliamentary Representation Research Articles

The social origins of democracy in Sweden: the role of agrarian politics

ABSTRACT In discussions of Scandinavian democratisation, it is commonplace to argue that long-standing farmer representation in parliament and a lack of feudalism facilitated early democratisation. The present essay questions this interpretation in the Swedish case. It centres on a re-interpretation of farmer politics at the national level from the 1866 two-chamber parliament reform to the alliance between the farmers’ party and Social Democrats in 1933. It is shown that democratisation was late and rapid; the 1866 reform was profoundly undemocratic. Swedish farmers did not organise themselves independently of nobles and landowners until the 1920s, and did not play the role of an independent pro-democratic force. The broad-based organisations of farmers in the 1920s and 1930s, with their democratic, participatory culture, were heavily influenced by the political culture of liberals and the labour movement. The implication for analyses of democratisation is that deep roots are less decisive than often supposed, and that modern political agency and organisation conversely, in contrast to influential research traditions and theories of democracy, can reverse undemocratic traditions.

How Merchant Towns Shaped Parliaments: From the Norman Conquest of England to the Great Reform Act

We study the emergence of urban self-governance in the late medieval period. We focus on England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, building a novel comprehensive dataset of 554 medieval towns. During the Commercial Revolution (twelfth to thirteenth centuries), many merchant towns obtained Farm Grants: the right of self-governed tax collection and law enforcement. Self-governance, in turn, was a stepping stone for parliamentary representation: Farm Grant towns were much more likely to be summoned directly to the medieval English Parliament than otherwise similar towns. We also show that self-governed towns strengthened the role of Parliament and shaped national institutions over the subsequent centuries. (JEL D02, D72, D73, K11, K34, N43, N93)

Tropes Revisited: Evert Sprinchorn'sIbsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Worksand Recent Historical Research in Ibsen Studies

Tropes Revisited: Evert Sprinchorn's<i>Ibsen's Kingdom: The Man and His Works</i>and Recent Historical Research in Ibsen Studies

The quota debate in the Czech Republic and the post-communist legacy

Most countries currently use some type of legislative or voluntary party quota to increase women's descriptive representation. The Czech Republic, however, despite low female parliamentary representation and three unsuccessful legislative proposals, has never adopted any quota mechanism, and all relevant political parties are reluctant to use voluntary party quotas. The aim of this paper is to present the arguments employed in the Czech quota debate and identify the reasons for such attitudes. We study the quota debate based on elite attitudes through media analysis and interviews with politicians from across the political spectrum. We find that most politicians do not support quotas. The quota debate is dominated by liberal individualist discourses of quotas as "offensive and humiliating" and unable to solve the problem of underrepresentation caused by "women's lack of interest in electoral politics". We find that many women politicians internalize the dominant negative quota arguments which prevent them from requesting institutional change and pressing for qouta measures in their own parties. We connect the findings with historical and political experiences that could provide important insights into quota reluctance in other post-communist countries.

WOMEN's POLITICAL REPRESENTATION: THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL ASPECTS

The article raises theoretical questions about the importance of women's representation in national parliaments in the context of a strategy to achieve gender parity in politics. Based on the theory of representation by H. Pitkin, the authors reflect on the role of women’s representation in legislative bodies in the promotion of women-oriented politics, and draw attention to the cross-national features of women's advancement in politics. The historical outline of the evolution of women's representation in parliaments focuses on such countries as Great Britain, the USSR, Ireland, the USA, the United Arab Emirates, etc. The authors draw attention to the concept of a "women-friendly state", formulated in the Scandinavian countries, and extrapolate it to theoretical reflections on the importance of women's representation in the parliaments of other countries. The authors demonstrate the difference between descriptive and substantive types of representation using the representation of women as an example and analyze the theory of "critical mass" that is traditionally used by researchers when talking about the representation of minority groups in politics.

Come siamo diventati populisti: la lingua politica italiana della «terza Repubblica»

Vulgar, dishonest, incompetent: in recent years Italian politicians and their speeches have been described as such by journalists, linguists and political scientists. The turning point seems to date back to the three-year period from 2007 to 2009, when the political landscape in Italy appears to have taken on the most vivid colours of populism. These years saw the emergence of political movements and forces very different from each other, but which had some common characteristics: direct appeal to the people, intolerance for parliamentary representation rules, and a close relationship between supporters and a charismatic leader. In this paper the author wonders whether this representation of political communication reflects real new features or if it is rather the result of some longer processes in the history of Italian politics and its language. To answer this question, the author proposes a synthetic profile of political language in Italy over the last 10–15 years and focuses on its evolution and current trends, using written or transcribed texts and a corpus of parliamentary speeches from the last legislatures.

Introduction: Three circles and a few promises

The chapter introduces the volume on constitutionalism in the Arab Gulf states. It situates the development of national constitutionalism against three backdrops: the global constitutional realm, the regional Middle East system, and the Gulf sub-region. It considers the integration of Gulf constitutions in the global study of constitutionalism by emphasizing that these texts – while often highly circumscribed – ought to be examined as the expression of an evolving balance of powers between ruler and ruled. The chapter reflects on common themes underlying Arab Gulf constitutional development, including the rise of social movements in many states calling for parliamentary representation, the continued domination of monarchies on all branches of government, and the budding but limited role of courts. It sets these themes against the mostly unyielding commitment by Rulers to a mode of governance that is (i) monarchical, (ii) conservative, (iii) centralized, (iv) monolithic and (v) patriarchal, and which appears to contradict some of the very basis of constitutionalism. A final section draws on the historic roots of the promise of istiham, translated as voting, a concept developed in the Ahkam sultaniyya of Abu Ya‘la’s, an 11th century Hanbali jurist, as an alluring harbinger of the right to vote for the political leader of the community.

Three circles and a few promises

The chapter introduces the volume on constitutionalism in the Arab Gulf states. It situates the development of national constitutionalism against three backdrops: the global constitutional realm, the regional Middle East system, and the Gulf sub-region. It considers the integration of Gulf constitutions in the global study of constitutionalism by emphasizing that these texts – while often highly circumscribed – ought to be examined as the expression of an evolving balance of powers between ruler and ruled. The chapter reflects on common themes underlying Arab Gulf constitutional development, including the rise of social movements in many states calling for parliamentary representation, the continued domination of monarchies on all branches of government, and the budding but limited role of courts. It sets these themes against the mostly unyielding commitment by Rulers to a mode of governance that is (i) monarchical, (ii) conservative, (iii) centralized, (iv) monolithic and (v) patriarchal, and which appears to contradict some of the very basis of constitutionalism. A final section draws on the historic roots of the promise of istiham, translated as voting, a concept developed in the Ahkam sultaniyya of Abu Ya‘la’s, an 11th century Hanbali jurist, as an alluring harbinger of the right to vote for the political leader of the community.

Framing Climate Policy Ambition in the European Parliament

The European Union’s climate policy is considered quite ambitious. This has led to a growing interest among political scientists investigating the European Parliament’s ability to negotiate such ambitious climate legislation. These studies generally focus on the voting behaviour of members of the European Parliament, which allows us to know more about their positions when it comes to accepting or rejecting legislative acts. However, we know surprisingly little about how they debate and justify their positions in Parliament. In these debates, members of the European Parliament not only identify the problem (i.e., climate change and its adverse effects) but also discuss potential solutions (i.e., their willingness or ambition to fight and adapt to climate change). In addition, plenary debates are ideal for making representative claims based on citizens’ interests on climate action. Therefore, this article aims to understand how climate policy ambitions are debated in the European Parliament and whose interests are represented. We propose a new manual coding scheme for climate policy ambitions in parliamentary debate and employ it in climate policy debates in the ninth European Parliament (2019–present). In doing so, this article makes a methodological contribution to operationalising climate policy ambition from a parliamentary representation and legitimation perspective. We find debating patterns that connect quite detailed ambitions with clear representative claims and justifications. There is more agreement on what to do than how to get there, with divides emerging based on party, ideological, and member-state characteristics.

Keperluan Mewujudkan Semula Akta Perkhidmatan Parlimen di Malaysia

Parliament represents an ever-important institution in the nation-building of a country. Parliament is committed to its oversight function towards the executive action of the government and represents the voice of the people through its elected representatives to the Dewan Rakyat (House ofRepresentatives) of Malaysia. The Dewan Negara (House of Senate) plays its check and balance role in the decisions taken in the Dewan Rakyat. Therefore, Parliament as an institution needs a parliamentary service system that is independent and efficient to provide impartial support to members of the House. Since the Parliamentary Service Act 1963 was abolished in 1993, there has been no specific legislation on parliamentary services in place in Malaysia. This has resulted in parliamentary staff being bound under the Federal Public Service. However, in the current context of modern parliament, there is a pressing need for legislation on parliamentary service to be introduced to ensure the empowerment and independence of parliamentary institutions in uplifting the quality of parliamentary representation in Malaysia. The practice in several countries, such as the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, is compared to evaluate the need to reintroduce the parliamentary service act. This article finally sets out to recommend the reintroduction of the act to ensure parliament’s check and balance function can be discharged accordingly.

Esther Somfalvy, Parliamentary Representation in Central Asia: MPs Between Representing Their Voters and Serving an Authoritarian Regime

Esther Somfalvy, Parliamentary Representation in Central Asia: MPs Between Representing Their Voters and Serving an Authoritarian Regime

Lebanese Women at the Crossroads: Caught between Sect and Nation

Lebanese Women at the Crossroads: Caught between Sect and Nation

The nonlinear impact of women’s descriptive representation: an empirical study on the ratification of women rights treaties

ABSTRACT Does the women’s descriptive representation have nonlinear impacts on women’s substantive representation? This article contributes to the literature on women in politics by opening the academic black box of the nonlinear impacts of women’s descriptive representation with the time-series cross-national data on the ratification of women’s international treaties of 117 countries from 1960 to 2016. Our study demonstrates that there is a nonlinear relationship between the improvement of women’s descriptive representation in parliaments and the number of women’s international treaties ratified. To be specific, we find that the increase in the percentage of women in parliaments leads countries to ratify women’s international treaties. Interestingly, the link between the percentage of female legislators and the number of women’s international treaties ratified turns into a negative relationship when the percentage reaches around 30%. We also find that the impact of women’s descriptive representation is only valid in democratic countries.

Parliamentary representation of overseas territories in the metropolis: a comparative analysis

ABSTRACT The consequences of ‘Brexit’ are many, and one that is little discussed is the reigniting of the debate as to whether Britain’s Overseas Territories (BOTs) should have direct representation within the United Kingdom Houses of Parliament; presently they do not. Proponents suggest that this would strengthen the territories’ voice in, and links with, Britain. The article considers this debate by drawing on some of the extant literature on what constitutes a demos, as well as descriptive representation, and the experiences of the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Åland, and Puerto Rico, which do have direct representation in their respective metropolitan parliaments. The article suggests that although there are strong normative arguments for such representation, the mixed record of the territories featured does not offer compelling evidence that a change for the BOTs would bring about significant improvements in how their interests are represented and defended.

Self-Regulation of Ethical Behavior: The Case of Political Parties and Parliament in Spain

Spanish politicians have attempted to respond to the growing concern about declining trust in representative institutions through ethical self-regulation and meta-regulation instruments. This article focuses on a study of Parliament and the six major political parties with parliamentary representation. It attempts to explain the reasons for adopting these new regulations and proceeds with an in-depth analysis of the existing rules, oversight, and enforcement methods in Parliament and within party organizations. As a result of European pressure, Spanish Parliament has developed a new code of ethics, but it has not strengthened internal procedures and mechanisms to bring them into compliance with the standing rules. Furthermore, political parties have developed an entire set of basic compliance measures influenced by the law on the criminal liability of legal persons. In both cases, oversight and enforcement are exceedingly weak. None of these measures has improved confidence in politicians in Spain. Two lessons can be learned. First is that without politicians’ commitment, ethical reforms do not work. Secondly, today’s new technologies, linked to a social network society, make window-dressing deception more difficult.

Improving Democracy: Gender Quotas and Diversity in Canada

The adoption of quotas for the election of women is a worldwide trend that is changing the face of national politics in many countries. Research shows that such measures are successful. First, this text reviews international literature on the adoption of gender quotas for electing women and their impact on minority women. What are the processes leading to the adoption of gender quotas in different contexts? Who initiates the process? How do quota campaigns get started? In the second section, the text uses Canada as a case study to understand the starting point for gender and/or diversity quota campaigns. In Canada, the idea of quotas for women and for minorities is on the agenda of many political organizations, but although there seems to be a new symbolic opening for having gender quotas at some levels of Canadian political institutions, popular support is still low. What about quotas for other groups such as minorities? A survey conducted in 2016 found that a majority of Canadians are open to designating seats for the country’s Indigenous peoples to boost their representation in Parliament and on the Supreme Court. Another study conducted on existing affirmative action programs provides insight on how quotas are perceived. These programs, in operation since the 1980s, are aimed at redressing past inequities and promoting the hiring of five designated groups. The survey indicates that no one is in favour of discriminating against marginalized groups; nevertheless, a large majority of respondents supported meritocracy and resisted affirmative action. In the 2021 Canadian federal election, there were no gender quotas and the number of women elected at the Canadian Parliament was 30% percent, a 1% increase from the 2019 election. In Quebec, one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada, an informal campaign for gender quotas in the 2018 provincial election has led to the election of 41% of women. Gender quota campaigns create openings to introduce diversity into the conversation. More research is needed to explain why there is still resistance to certain types of quotas such as gender quotas in the specific context of Canada. Overall, bringing a more diversified body of representatives to parliaments contributes to the revitalization of electoral politics and can improve democracy.

Representation, identity and indigeneity: changes in Māori roll choice in Aotearoa-New Zealand

ABSTRACT In New Zealand, also known by its Indigenous Māori name Aotearoa, voters of Māori descent have the choice between the Māori roll and the General roll. The boundaries of the seven dedicated Māori electoral districts are superimposed over those of the 65 General districts. Every five years, after the census, persons who have reported Māori descent have the option to change between electoral rolls. Choice of the Māori roll indicates a strong sense of Māori identity and a belief that it is important that the Māori seats remain to guarantee Parliamentary representation by Māori MPs, elected only by Māori. Using a unique dataset sampled from the electoral rolls, plus entire electoral rolls, we investigate roll locations and roll shifts of persons claiming Māori descent across age, gender, spatial location and other factors, merging in census local area census data to estimate linguistic contextual effects. We test hypotheses related to generational socialisation, speaking the Māori language, occupational mobility, household context, and the timing of enrolments. We confirm that identity as Māori, expressed most strongly through language context, has strong effects on Māori roll enrolment, but also find that other factors offset its impact on the number of Māori electorates.

Political tolerance in Europe: The role of conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism

AbstractTolerance has long been identified as a crucial feature of liberal democracies. Although the limits of tolerance are debated, the extent to which citizens are open and willing to accommodate others who are different from them is often regarded as a sign of a healthy and well‐functioning liberal democracy. The goal of this paper is to empirically investigate the state of political tolerance in Europe today. The main questions we ask are: What explains the different levels of tolerance across individuals in various countries? Which groups in society are the most likely targets of intolerance? We understand political tolerance as the willingness to allow the free articulation of interests and ideas in the political system of groups one opposes. Previous research emphasizes education, civic activism and threat perceptions as important determinants of tolerance. We redirect the debate to a set of novel correlates of tolerance. We argue that conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism are critical factors that explain levels of tolerance among Europeans. The analysis employs original survey data collected as part of a mass survey conducted in 2017 in 10 European Union member states: Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. Our descriptive analysis shows that far‐right groups (i.e., fascists and neo‐Nazis) and Muslims are the most disliked groups in Europe. When it comes to the level of tolerance towards these groups, we find that more than half of the respondents in each country are willing to deny their most disliked group parliamentary representation. Moreover, we find that even after controlling for traditional determinants of tolerance, conspiratorial thinking and cosmopolitanism emerge as the most important predictors of political tolerance. Our analysis suggests that the recent rapid spread of various conspiracy theories related to the COVID‐19 pandemic is likely to have far‐reaching implications for tolerance as well.

The political presence of persons living with dementia in parliament. A qualitative study into the dementia representation work of German parliamentarians

Parliamentary representation of persons living with dementia is important because it has the potential to enhance the lives of affected individuals. However, studies that take a closer look at the parliamentarization of dementia are few and far between. Drawing on recent advances in political science representation theory, this paper shows how parliamentary attention to persons living with dementia takes the form of representative claims. An interpretive analysis of 56 parliamentary documents revealed that German parliamentarians voiced what they considered to be the political wants and needs of persons living with dementia in different debates on a broad range of topics. They also created a political presence for persons living with dementia in representative claims about other groups – such as professional carers. Both types of claims were one-dimensional in nature: parliamentarians reduced persons living with dementia to their impairments, rendering them politically visible as vulnerable persons who need to be protected by the same society that their existence is putting a “burden” on. A more multi-dimensional political presence for persons living with dementia is required. In order to improve their dementia representation work, it is important that parliamentarians engage with persons living with dementia and understand how they wish to be engagedin parliament or otherwise.

The Power of Women: Does increasing women's parliamentary representation reduce intake of sugar-sweetened beverages among children and adolescents?

Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) is associated with overweight and obesity in children and adolescents. Although existing research confirms the significance of economic and social factors as determinants of SSB intake, comparative studies on political factors and cross-national analyses are lacking. Research indicates that including women in the process of political decision-making promotes healthcare and child protection. This study examined how women's parliamentary representation influences children's and adolescents' SSB intake compared to adults. The study used cross-national food and beverage intake data from the Global Dietary Database. The outcome measurement was SSB consumption (g/day) for different population groups. We modeled SSB intake as a function of age groups, women's parliamentary representation at the national level (the independent variable), regime types (the contextual factor), and import tariffs on SSBs (the mediator) using country and time fixed effects regression models. 185 countries across three waves from 2005 to 2015. Different population groups. The impact of female representation on reducing SSB consumption is more prevalent in children and adolescents than in adults. Furthermore, the effect of women's parliamentary representation on SSB consumption among children and adolescents is conditional on a country's democratic status. Finally, the marginal effect decreases when import tariffs on SSBs are considered a link in a causal chain. No changes in adult SSB intake are statistically significant. The findings suggest that the presence of women in the legislature can have a substantial impact on child and adolescent health.