Legislative Scrutiny Research Articles

Economical rights versus God’s rights: criticising of the implementation Shariah economic in Indonesia

PurposeThis study aims to evaluate the impact of Law No. 11 of 2018 on Islamic Financial Institutions in Aceh, Indonesia. It also aims to understand the balance between the economic rights of individuals under Shariah law and the broader concept of God’s rights, as interpreted by this legislation. In addition, the research argues that the implementation of Law No. 11 of 2018 is untimely, with a focus on examining its influence on the cumulative abnormal return (CAR) of Shariah banks and its slight contribution to the direct economic impact.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a mixed-methods approach that integrates qualitative and quantitative analyses. The qualitative aspect uses a black-letter law approach for legislative scrutiny, whereas the quantitative aspect assesses economic indicators and firm performance using an event study analysis. The study also includes a two-tailed assessment to test hypotheses related to the law’s direct impact on institutional performance.FindingsThe study reveals that Law No. 11 of 2018 had minimal impact on national-scale corporate performance and a notable increase in poverty indices in Aceh, indicating a potential misalignment between the law’s intention and its economic consequences. The results also show the law’s ineffectiveness in significantly influencing the CAR of Islamic banks, highlighting a clash of norms and a lack of substantial economic substance in the implementation of Shariah compliance.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is geographically and legally focused on Aceh, Indonesia, with a short-term analysis that may not fully capture the long-term impacts. It primarily considers the stock price performance of specific institutions for quantitative analysis and identifies potential clashes and disharmony-in-law implementation from a qualitative perspective.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest the need for legal frameworks that better comply Shariah principles with economic realities. Regional governments should consider modifying policies to balance religious values and economic objectives.Social implicationsThis research highlights the importance of balancing religious obligations with economic rights, indicating that strict interpretations of religious law can lead to adverse socioeconomic effects.Originality/valueThis study is unique in its comprehensive analysis of the convergence between religious law and economic rights, offering insights into the challenges faced in implementing Shariah-based economic policies in diverse economies, such as Indonesia.

Institutionalising women’s experiences in law: Possibilities and pitfalls of parliamentary gender audit committees

Feminist legal scholars have long recognised that law is gendered, being a manifestation of power that often works to the detriment of women. This need not be the case. This article tests the capacity of law to make a material difference on women’s lives through parliamentary auditing. The arguments springboard from an innovation emerging in Tasmania in 2022: a Gender and Equality Audit Committee in the Tasmanian Legislative Council. Alongside the Australian Capital Territory’s Standing Committee on the Economy and Gender and Economic Equality, these Australian examples provide a framework to interrogate the possibilities for inclusive, gendered legislative scrutiny.

The Indonesian House of Representatives and its role during democratic regression

ABSTRACT Parliament and the separation of power are essential elements of democratic consolidation. However, what role does parliament take if democracy is in retreat? Following a comparative approach, this article analyses the role of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) during a process of democratic decline. Indonesia is seen as a success story of democratisation. Since 1998, the country has transitioned from an autocratic regime to a vibrant multi-party democracy. However, twenty years on, academics have been highlighting far-reaching patterns of democratic regression. Whereas there have been studies of the democratic setback globally and more in-depth analyses of aspects of the Indonesian democracy in retreat, there has been little attention on the role of the country’s legislature in this situation. This article analyses how the DPR has been executing its legislative mandate during Joko Widodo’s second presidential term from 2019 to 2024. Examining three cases of legislation, it found the DPR is not actively resisting the democratic decline. On the contrary, the hypothesis has been proven that the parliament is an active factor in autocratic legalism. This has been most visible in the reduced scrutiny of draft legislation, limited deliberation, and narrow public consultation to serve elite interests. In addition to a weakened legislative role by the DPR, there has been reduced oversight and scrutiny of government policies, visible through limited questioning of ministers or inquiries into the use of the budget and the appointment of government-favoured candidates to national commissions, courts, and state bodies. Moreover, the nature of a consensus-based decision-making system has allowed the executive to effectively control the parliament, instead of the other way around. This is despite some reminders from the Constitutional Court to respect the legal provisions that require deliberation and consultation of the people.

Bishops in the House of Lords: fit for the future?

AbstractThis article seeks to provide a constitutional law perspective on the contribution of the Lords Spiritual to the scrutiny of legislation in the House of Lords. It examines the legal basis of the bishops’ role in the Upper House and how this has evolved. It considers how far the bishops currently meet expectations about their role against the background of calls for reform of the House of Lords and changes in religious affiliation in the United Kingdom. The paper draws, amongst other things, on the experience of a group of current and former Lords Spiritual who shared their views with the author in the course of some informal semi-structured conversations. It also examines the relationship between the Lords Spiritual and the Church of England's national institutions. It concludes that the Lords Spiritual make a distinctive contribution to the legislature which should be maintained, with some modifications to meet the needs of the time.

An Overview of the Recent Case Law of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Latvia

The article highlights recent trends in the case law of the Latvian Constitutional Court with regard to the response to COVID-19, empowerment of marginalised groups, and protection of democracy. These developments emphasise the Court's role in upholding the rule of law, promoting equality, and safeguarding democracy in Latvia. During the pandemic, its rulings shaped the legal framework for managing the crisis while balancing public health against individuals’ rights. Analysis shows that the decisions on emergency measures, restrictions to fundamental rights, and executive powers ensured government actions' legality and proportionality, with the Court demonstrating commitment to empowering marginalised groups through case law addressing gender equality, LGBTQ+ rights, minority rights, and disability-related rights. The paper shows how, by providing legal protection and promoting inclusivity, the Court advanced the rights of marginalised communities while, additionally, protecting democracy remained a paramount concern for the institution, whereby it safeguarded the Latvian constitutional order, separation of powers, independence of the judiciary, and the rule of law. The discussion illustrates how vigilant scrutiny of legislation and government actions can preserve democratic values, uphold the integrity of institutions, and ensure accountability.

Legislation Committee as Law Center in the National Law Development

The shift in the DPR legislative function after the amendment of the UUDNRI 1945, which was previously owned by the President then become the DPR function brought major changes. This change, plays an important role in the process of checks and balances and in enhancing the development of national law quality. However, this change is still not optimal. As can be seen from the fact that the legislative products produced by the DPR are not yet maximal, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Optimizing Baleg's position as a Law Center with the support of reliable supporting staff is one way to improve legislative performance. So far Baleg's role in carrying out its duties has not been optimal due to various interests which have hindered the drafting of the National Legislation Program and the deliberation of the Bill and the absence of a road map in monitoring and reviewing laws. Baleg's position as a Law Center must be strengthened to minimize the obstacles that arise so that the Prolegnas that have been set can be realized. Baleg needs to make arrangement so that the implementation of its duties can be optimal and ultimately able to improve the performance of the DPR in carrying out its powers as legislators. A road map in post legislative scrutiny needs to be made so it is clear that the implementation can be carried out in a directed and measurable manner.

Legislating for change: gender-sensitive ex-ante legislative scrutiny in practice

ABSTRACT The law is a fundamental arena for advancing gender equality. Parliaments are where laws are made, but differential gender impacts are often not explored when draft legislation is scrutinised. A range of tools exist to help parliamentarians conduct gender-sensitive ex-ante legislative scrutiny but their success relies on parliamentary institutionalisation, localisation of measures, political will and parliamentary leadership, access to evidence and expertise, practical tools, its application to all laws, men, and government practice. Blind spots and weaknesses include intersectionality, the role of empathy in representation, a holistic approach to the whole legislative cycle, and linking to international obligations.

Rationale of Establishing Public Accounts Committees: A Critical Review of Literature

According to the UK Parliament, “The Public Accounts Committee examines the value for money of Government projects, programmes, and service delivery. Drawing on the work of the National Audit Office the Committee holds government officials to account for the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of public spending.” Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide the background information on the creating of Public Accounts Committees (Parliament). The paper further attempts to cover issues relating to external audit and legislative scrutiny. The paradigm for the Public Accounts Committees is also covered in this article. In this article, a critical review of literature has been used as a methodology. The key literature reviewed is from Google Scholar and EbscoHost, Researchgate, and other scholarly databases. Further, websites for some Parliaments and associations for parliaments across the globe have been an invaluable source of information on this subject. From the literature that has been reviewed it can be concluded that both Public Accounts Committees (PACs) and Auditors General can help to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) or international capital investment to a country by providing assurances on the integrity of public sector finances, especially if challenges faced in building their capacity and performing their functions can be overcome. Keywords: Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Auditor General’s Office, Legislative Scrutiny DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/12-6-03 Publication date: August 31 st 2022

Parliamentary Oversight: A Critical Review of Literature

The main of this paper is to define what is meant by ‘legislative’ or parliamentary oversight. The other objective is to assess the role of the Legislature in the Budget Ex Post. The Objectives, tools, and mechanisms of parliamentary oversight shall be discussed. The review of the literature was used as a methodology in this paper. The review found that there are various definitions of parliamentary oversight The Portal for Parliamentary Development was a great source of literature that was reviewed and analyzed in this study. It was reviewed that different scholars define parliamentary oversight differently. Not all definitions capture all the key roles of parliamentary oversight. paper reviews several scholarly articles that provides various definitions of parliamentary oversight. Furthermore, it is revealed that government reporting and legislative scrutiny of public accounts is more common in parliamentary and semi-presidential systems than in presidential systems; even so, 84 percent of legislatures in presidential systems analyze financial reports from the government. From the literature reviewed, it has been concluded that the robust monitoring of the executive by the parliament is an indicator of good governance. Besides the parliament’s legislative function, it is through oversight that the parliament can ensure a balance of power and assert its role as the defender of the people’s interests. Keywords: Parliamentary Oversight; Legislative Oversight; Public Accounts Committee DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/12-6-01 Publication date: August 31 st 2022

House of Commons Public Bill Committees and Oral Evidence: A Half-Step Forward?

Abstract The introduction of evidence sessions for House of Commons public bill committees in 2007, including oral evidence from witnesses, was widely seen as a potentially significant improvement in informing scrutiny of legislation. Drawing on interviews with officials and witnesses, and on data gathered from Hansard for the 2017–2019 session, this article examines the selection and some of the characteristics of witnesses, witnesses’ views of the process and how oral evidence is used in subsequent scrutiny of the legislation. While recognising that oral evidence does make an important contribution to scrutiny, the article notes that both the process as it currently exists, and the inevitable influence of political factors, mean that the impact of oral evidence on legislation remains very limited.

Evidence Submitted to Joint Committee on Human Rights Legislative Scrutiny: Bill of Rights Bill

Evidence Submitted to Joint Committee on Human Rights Legislative Scrutiny: Bill of Rights Bill

Policy and Legislation Evaluation and Scrutiny by Parliament of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a democratic socialist republic with a unicameral legislature, in which sovereignty is in the People which includes the powers of the government, fundamental rights, and franchise. The sovereignty of the people is exercised and enjoyed separately by the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary as articulated by the Constitutional provisions. In this process, the timely and in-depth evaluation of policies and legislations are important, to ensure accountability by any stakeholder institution towards the People of the country. In Parliament's perspective, this task is covered by the oversight role which is one of the main roles of Parliament.
 This paper aims at discussing the mechanisms that the Parliament of Sri Lanka has employed, in exercising those powers of the People and the paper discusses the methodologies that the Parliament uses in policy evaluation as well as in ensuring legislative scrutiny, especially through the Parliamentary Committee System. The paper analyses the outcome of those mechanisms in upholding and protecting the rights of the citizen. The paper identifies the achievements as well as challenges and analyzes the use of new concepts and methodologies in improving the service rendered to the citizen by Parliament and suggests ways in which any such gaps could be filled. The study of the paper focuses on the 8th Parliament which covered the duration from the year 2015 to 2020 and the 9th Parliament, which is the present Parliament, with regard to the area of interest.

The European and national parliaments in the area of freedom, security and justice: does interparliamentary cooperation lead to joint oversight?

ABSTRACT To what extent does the cooperation of national parliaments and the European Parliament strengthen the oversight of EU executive actors in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice? The article provides an ideal-typical conceptualisation of individual and joint parliamentary oversight in the EU’s multi-level system. Legislative scrutiny is examined for the case of the General Data Protection Regulation and agency oversight is analysed for the case of Europol. In both cases, the article demonstrates that the interparliamentary cooperation has not led to a joint oversight. Legislative scrutiny was badly timed, characterised by diverging interests, and a high fluctuation of the participating parliamentarians. The Joint Parliamentary Scrutiny Group over Europol has turned out to become a primarily symbolic layer to the ‘individual oversight’ exercised by the European Parliament’s LIBE committee.

Legislative scrutiny in the United States: dynamic, whole-stream revision

ABSTRACT Legislative drafting in the United States Congress is a dynamic process with many actors working to revise both a bill’s policy and language. Rather than a central drafting office or government agency responsible for drafting bills, legislative language and amendments come from many sources: Congressional committee staff, the House and Senate Offices of Legislative Counsel, special interest lobbyists, and executive agencies. The hope is that bills become stronger and better drafted as it moves through the process; but that is not always the case. In addition, Congress still does not use a single standard drafting style. Still, there have been improvements in recent decades. For example, the House of Representatives developed a preferred drafting style and created a manual to guide drafters. However, Congress can and should do more to improve legislative quality. In this article I suggest several reforms: empowering the committee chairs to not just guide legislation through Congress, but promote better quality legislation; requiring greater drafting style standardisation; creating new materials and trainings to assist legislative actors, particularly committee staff, to recognise defective drafting and appreciate the value of careful drafting practices; and creating a advisory commission that will bring together key drafting participants to propose further reforms.

Counterterrorism and the rule of law in an evolving European Union: plus ça change?

By taking the European Union (EU) as a principal focal point, this chapter will evaluate critically the rule of law challenges arising from the production and operation of counterterrorism norms. The article will focus on four case studies, two involving the rule of law ex ante (at the stage of adoption of EU law) and two involving the rule of law ex post (looking at its impact). In terms of ex ante rule of law challenges, the chapter will analyse the production of binding standards by the global executive and the trickle-down effect of these standards at the regional, EU and national level and the limits of scrutiny and justification of counterterrorism legislation on emergency grounds. In terms of rule of law ex post, the chapter will examine challenges of counterterrorism law to the principle of legality via over-criminalisation and the adoption of vague and broad definitions of terrorism, as well as challenges to the right to a fair trial and principle of effective judicial protection resulting from state arbitrariness in the mechanism of producing terrorist sanctions. The contribution will question whether the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, and the process of constitutionalisation of criminal law it entailed, has made a difference regarding the compliance of EU counterterrorism law with the rule of law.

The Inchoate Legislative Scrutiny of the Myanmar Police Forces: A Study of the USDP Legislature (2011-16)

Contemporary Southeast Asia (CSEA) is one of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute"s flagship publications. Now in its fourth decade of publication, CSEA has succeeded in building up an international reputation as one of Southeast Asia"s premier academic journals. The aim of the peer reviewed journal is to provide subscribers with up to date and in-depth analysis of critical trends and developments in Southeast Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region. The primary focus of the journal is on issues related to domestic politics in Southeast Asian countries, regional architecture and community building, military, strategic and security affairs, conflict zones and relations among the Great Powers. CSEA publishes authoritative, insightful and original contributions from scholars, think-tank analysts, journalists and policy-makers from across the globe. The Editorial Committee is guided by the advice of the International Advisory Committee which is composed of eminent scholars from Asia, the United States, Australia and Europe.

Democratic and Judicial Review of Enacted Laws in Australia: A Case Study of the Rights Scrutiny Work of Australian Parliamentary Committees

This article explores the relationship between different forms of review of enacted legislation in Australia and provides fresh perspective from which other parliamentary democracies may consider the role of parliamentary committees play in rights protection. Using three case study examples from Australia, this article explores the concept of democratic post-legislative scrutiny and its relationship with other forms of review of enacted laws, including judicial review. The article challenges the conventional view that parliamentary models of legislative scrutiny are inherently vulnerable to executive dominance, and argues that democratic review of enacted laws, particularly that conducted by parliamentary committees, has distinct advantages over judicial or tribunal-based review of enacted laws, and provides beneficial supplement to other forms of rights protection in Australia. The article argues that the flexibility and responsiveness of Australian forms of parliamentary post-legislative scrutiny, that are decidedly lacking in structured procedural frameworks, make the case studies particularly interesting to Canadian scholars and practitioners as they underscore the benefits of direct engagement with citizens and experts in the process of post-legislative scrutiny, when compared to other more tightly controlled forms of legislative review. In this way, this article responds to the long-standing scholarship in Canada relating to the increasingly deteriorating capacity of members of Parliament to act as legislators rather than government cheerleaders when it comes to parliamentary scrutiny of proposed and existing laws.

Legislative Scrutiny in Times of Emergency

Legislative Scrutiny in Times of Emergency

Asymmetric incentives and the new politics of monetary policy

Abstract This article develops and tests a theory of asymmetric incentives to explain why politicians might be less motivated to confront deflation than inflation. Leveraging Japan as a least-likely crucial case, we analyze the conditions that lead legislators to take advantage of their power to summon central bankers for questioning. We find that even moderate inflation makes it more likely that legislators will summon central bankers compared to periods when the inflation rate is near zero. By contrast, deflation has either no effect or reduces the likelihood of summonses. We also find some evidence that unconventional monetary policies to combat deflation, specifically quantitative easing, are likely to invite greater legislative scrutiny. These findings have important policy implications. While deflation is widely viewed as pernicious and more difficult to exit than inflation, there are weaker incentives for politicians to address it.

Female-Oriented Male-Male Erotica: Comparison of the Engaged Anglophone Demographic and That of the Greater China Area

Our aim is to compare comprehensive data on the engaged demographics of female-oriented male-male erotica in Anglophone regions and that of the greater China area. Our study constitutes the largest such data set in each region (Anglophone N = 1707; Chinese N = 1498). Data were analysed from our online Boys’ Love (BL) fandom survey: one version in English and an almost identical version in Chinese. We confirm that the engaged Anglophone demographic includes more men, people with a wider range of sexual orientations, lower proportion of heterosexual identification, and a wider and older age range. We provide greater detail than ever before and demonstrate engagement with BL by young straight men and questioning of sexual identity by female fans, at least in the Anglophone West. Finally, we provide novel evidence that a broad demographic of young people in the greater China area is familiar with BL as a casual interest in contrast to Anglophone regions where it is more of an intense and niche pass-time. We offer important insights into a global erotic entertainment by-and-for women which is influencing the mainstream but under increasing legislative scrutiny.