In the first of our blog series from our Annual Conference, Legislatures in Uncertain Times, Sean Haughey discusses his research into parliamentary questions in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Month: November 2017
The Wright reforms have been widely credited with reinvigorating select committees. In a blog originally published by Democratic Audit, Stephen Bates, Mark Goodwin (University of Birmingham) and Steve McKay (University of Lincoln) take issue with this assumption. They found the reforms have made little or no difference to MP turnover and attendance, which are driven by the parliamentary cycle. When MPs are jostling for payroll vote positions and trying to keep up with constituency duties and votes in the Chamber, select committees are likely to suffer.
The PSA Parliaments and Study of the Scottish Parliament Group co-hosted their annual conference Legislatures in Uncertain Times on Friday 17 November at Holyrood.
How do new MPs learn the institutional norms and practices of the Commons when they are first elected? Nick Dickinson, University of Exeter, discusses a new model for parliamentary socialisation.
The PSA Parliaments Groups is sharing details of a job opportunity for early career academics at the Constitution Unit, and highlights the call for projects on parliament or parliamentary reform, in the UK or comparatively.
In a new Political Studies article David Judge and Cristina Leston-Bandeira identify non-elected officials rather than elected members as those who ‘speak for’ and ‘act for’ parliaments as institutions most often. In this post, originally posted on The Constitution Unit, they discuss this paradox and some of their key findings in relation to the UK parliament.
The Lord Speaker’s Committee on the Size of the House of Lords, has recommended moving to a chamber of no more than 600 members, appointed for 15-year terms. This follows years of controversy about the growing size of the Lords, which currently stands at over 800. In a post originally published on The Constitution Unit, Sir David Beamish, formerly the most senior official in the House of Lords, argues that the proposals offer the best opportunity for years for some small progress on the knotty issue of Lords reform.
Categories
November 2017 newsletter
Welcome to the November edition of our newsletter, which includes:
- PSA Parliaments Annual Conference – Reminder
- REF Panels for 2021 – nominations
- PSA Annual Conference 2018
- Recently on the blog
If you have any notices / messages you would like us to circulate to the group, please let us know (including events, new research projects, grants, publications, etc.). Or other ideas for the group and feedback for us, they’re welcome too!
Best wishes,
Marc (@marcgeddes), Louise (@LouiseVThompson), Alex (@A_Meakin) and Leanne (@LeanneMarieC)
Andrew Defty, University of Lincoln, analyses the “parliamentary trap” Labour laid for the Government on the release of the Brexit impact assessment studies.
Having passed the electoral threshold and entered the Bundestag for the first time in September’s German federal election, the AfD is now coming to terms with the responsibilities and pressures of being a key player in the German parliament. One month on from the election, in a blog originally posted on LSE EUROPP, Julian Göpffarth reflects on three possible scenarios for the AfD over the coming years: that the party will undergo a process of nationalist radicalisation, that there will be a shift toward pragmatic centrism, and that the moderate voices within the party will become more radical in their approach.