Legislatures Paolo R. Graziano Political Science AY 2011-2011 Lecture 12

1. LegislaturesPaolo R. GrazianoPolitical Science AY 2011-2011Lecture 12

2. Legislatures • Legislatures are multimember representative bodies which are at the heart of any given political regime. • Legislatures provide main source of legitimation for (input) democracies • Formal locus of policy making • Variance with respect to: • structure • functions

3. Structure (I) • Size: number of members. Big assemblies are weaker, not stronger due to • member veto power • ‘personalistic’ local politics • Number of chambers: legislatures may be: • unicameral (more effective, at least in principle) • bicameral (more balanced- unless weak bicameralism)

4. Structure (II) – selection of the second chamber • direct election – ex. USA • indirect election – ex. France • appointment – ex. Canada

5. Functions • representation • deliberation • legislation (including budgetary functions) • making governments • scrutiny

6. Representation • basic democratic function: voters’ preference representation • societal diversity needs to be represented institutionally • electoral systems may interfere with the representation function of the legislatures • in order to guarantee representation of minorities, reserved seats may be offered (ex. Maori in New Zealand). • differential party discipline

7. Deliberation • Legislatures as institutional arena for public debates of national concern • Differential organization of deliberation: • debating legislatures (ex. UK) • committee-based legislatures (ex. US) • Differential partisanship • partisan legislatures (often combined with debating legislatures) • bipartisan legislatures (often combined with committee-based legislatures)

8. Legislation • Important but not exclusive function • Relevance depends on the nature of party-legislatures relations: • concentrated or party-dominated parliaments (ex. UK) • fragmented or committee-dominated parliaments (ex. US) • Authorizing expenditure as (almost) autonomous public policy cycles

9. Parliamentary governments • In parliamentary governments, the legislatures also ‘make the governments’ since: • the governing parties emerge from the assembly • the executive is responsible before the legislature • parliamentary majority is directly linked with the executive

10. Scrutiny • Particularly relevant in parliamentary governments, it may be obtained through: • questions – (oral and written) queries to ministries • interpellations – more formal request of information • emergency debates – high profile request of governmental information followed by a parliamentary debate • votes of confidence – formal approval/dismissal of government and/or individual ministers • committee investigations (also in presidential governments) – ex. 9/11 Commission

11. The committees • standing committees are the most important legislatures’ committees • select and mediation committees are ad hoc committees (and therefore less relevant) • Specific functions: • enhance parliamentary competence • reduce partisan conflicts and create mutual trust • provide qualified staff to legislatures’ members

12. Membership • the rise of professional politicians… • …and the political class. • Beyond partisan differences, professional politicians may share interests (connected to their political status) and specific policy goals • Main goal of professional politician: (re-) election, not (only) representation.

13. Legislatures in nondemocratic regimes • lack of autonomy vis-à-vis government and/or President • mainly symbolic functions • they may be used in order to incorporate moderate opponents into the regime – first step towards democratization? • possible pool of potential recruits to the elite

14. Conclusion • Legislatures perform vital functions… • …which go beyond mere representation. • As institutional fora, they are also a key target of partisan competition… • …and have contributed to the creation of a political class.