DIANA STIRBU

Diana Stirbu is Professor of Public Policy & Governance at London Metropolitan University. She is perhaps best known for her work on the Welsh Parliament / Senedd Cymru and has recently completed an Academic Fellowship there, conducting research into measuring the effectiveness of the committee system.

Please tell us a little bit about how you entered academia and your academic career

I would say that it all started with a rather radical career change for me: from being a computer programmer in a nuclear power station in Romania to becoming passionate about parliaments, public administration, and political science research. In 2003 I won an EU scholarship to study a master’s degree in the UK (University of Liverpool). That then led to a PhD and to my first job as a researcher at the Hansard Society’s Parliament and Government programme and eventually to my first academic job at London Metropolitan University in 2010. Here at London met, I have taught in the Politics and IR programme at first, the Master of Public Administration and, in 2019, I was promoted to professorship.

Which five books/articles (written by someone else) have been most important to you in your academic career?

Richard Rawlings ‘Delineating Wales. Constitutional, Legal and Administrative Aspects of National Devolution’ was instrumental in the early stages of my PhD.

Robert E. Goodin ‘The Theory of Institutional Design’ and B. Guy Peters ‘Institutional Theory in Political Science’ have shaped my interest in institutionalism, a perspective that has driven a lot of my research.

Vicky Randall ‘Women in Politics’ opened up a whole new field and standpoint in political research.

Michael Marinetto ‘Studies of the Policy Process’ was my go to textbook in the first years of teaching career.

Which person has been most influential and important to you in your academic career?

Professor Laura McAllister (at Cardiff University now) was the most influential for my academic career. Not only did she facilitate my first research placement (and first encounter with) the Welsh Parliament during my master, she supported me throughout my PhD as my supervisor and shaped me into the academic that I have become. I really appreciated Laura’s ability to engage with such a wide range of policy actors (from sports, to gender and equality in government, to constitutional design and offering advice to parliaments), and I am ever so grateful for involving me in many projects as a doctoral student. In a sense, my interest in research impact, my outreach work outside academia has been shaped by her.

Which of your own pieces of research are you most proud of?

Can I choose two? I think I am most proud of my first ever joint article with Laura McAllister, published in Policy & Politics in 2007, when I was still doing my PhD. The other work I am quite proud of is my Fellowship report to the Welsh Parliament (the Senedd) about the effectiveness of the Senedd Committees. I am proud of that because I managed to engage meaningfully with officials and politicians in the Senedd.

What has been your greatest achievement in academia?

Being promoted to Professor.

What has been your greatest disappointment in academia?

Every article rejection of grant proposal rejection feels like the greatest disappointment. It’s tough.

What is the first or most important thing you tell your students about parliaments?

I don’t get to teach an awful lot about parliaments, but when I do get the chance, I tell them they are the most fascinating public sector organisations.

Where were you born, where did you grow up, and where do you live now?

I was born in eastern part of Romania and grew up in a small town in the south-east of the country, by the river Danube. I now live in East London.

What was your first job?

Research Assistant in the Ministry of Youth and Sports in Romania.

What was the toughest job you ever had?

The summer jobs in one of my mum’s grocery stores, during my high school and university years. It was exhausting but also kind of exciting and got to meet so many people.

What would your ideal job be, if not an academic?

Probably something to do with gardening or coaching football.

What are your hobbies?

Photography and alternative processes in photography. I used to be an active member of a studio in East London and learnt how to do lith printing and cyanotypes. So much fun experimenting with different processes and materials in photography.

What are your favourite novels?

Over the years I have had so many favourites. I am still under the spell of Bernardine Evaristo’s ‘Girl, Woman, Other’ , although I read this a couple of years ago– it was so powerful, so vibrant, such captivating story-telling. More recently, I have loved Mieko Kawakami’s ‘Breasts and Eggs’ – such a literary celebration of womanhood.

What is your favourite music?

Too many to mention here, but let’s try. I work out (including the ultra-rare dancing night out) on electronic music (anything Jon Hopkins, Nicolas Jaar, Moderat, etc). Sunday mornings are jazzy or Brazilian bossa nova. The latest amazing concert I have been to was Marisa Monte (a Brazilian grandee). When I need to concentrate and write, I prefer classical music. One of my favourite bands is The Doors. And yes, my latest guilty pleasure is cooking on Harry Styles tunes.

What is your favourite artwork?

I love Yayoi Kusama’s art. The Kusama: Infinity (2018) documentary was a great one about her evolution as an artist.

What is your favourite film?

Again, too many to mention, but the latest one I have seen and left me quite amazed was Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. I mean, you can’t have a better film coming out of this pandemic.

What is your favourite building?

The Welsh Parliament building (The Senedd) in Cardiff Bay is an absolute masterpiece. It’s not only about the architectural merits of the building, but the symbolism of it: the openness, the transparency and the way it uses Welsh sourced slate for instance to make a compelling story of Wales’ democracy.

What is your favourite tv show?

It has to be Parks and Recreation. I mean, a TV series about local government, with Joe Biden featuring multiple times in it. And the whole dynamic between Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson… it’s just so good.

What is your favourite holiday destination?

Brazil, Japan, Portugal, Romania. I love Brazil and its energy and complexity. Portugal and Romania feel like home. Japan is just so beautiful and different and has the best food in the world.

What is your favourite sport?

I used to play football. I love football, but I get annoyed by the exploitative and discriminatory nature of the industry surrounding it. I am so glad that women’s football is getting more profile though. I also played and love watching tennis.

What is your favourite restaurant?

In London: Monohom Ramen in Old Street. It’s a small Japanese ramen restaurant, and yes, ramen is one of my favourite foods.

In Portugal / Porto: Capa Negra restaurant serves the best Francesinha, a Porto specific dish that is an absolute calorie bomb.

I also love (of course) Romanian food. My grandmother was an amazing cook and I remember fondly the taste of my favourite things cooked by her (sarmale – stuffed vine leaves or cabbage leaves with mince meat, rice and lots of herbs; chicken/duck cooked in a pot with lots of garlic, herbs and home made tomato sauce; garlic green beans stew). Never quite get the same taste in restaurants though.

Hybrid proceedings in Parliament: yes please or no thanks?

Yes, please, if and when needed. No need for parliament to be stuck in old ways when all other industries and workplaces are adapting to new ways of working.

Appointed or elected upper chamber?

Elected and representing regions.

Restoration or Renewal?

Both.

Cat or Dog?

Dog.

Trains, planes or automobiles?

Trains.

Fish and chips or Curry?

Curry – but needs to be a good curry.

And, finally, a question asked by Seth, who has just turned 10: Would you rather never wear shoes or never wear a hat for the rest of your life?

Pragmatic answer would be never wear a hat.

Almost every country in the world has a legislature. They are at the centre of democratic politics, but also take on crucial roles in authoritarian regimes. Felix Wiebrecht illustrates how a multidimensional approach helps us to understand their role in dictatorships and paves the way for more research

Authoritarian legislatures matter

Hager Ali notes that we need better typologies of authoritarian regimes. The same applies to their legislatures. They can differ from each other as much as from their democratic counterparts, despite earlier research describing them as nothing but ‘window-dressing’ or rubberstamp institutions.

But even under authoritarianism, legislatures matter. This is increasingly accepted in comparative politics, but research still struggles to identify why exactly that is the case. In authoritarian regimes, legislatures have, for instance, been credited with important roles in co-optation, power-sharing, and the collection of information. However, as scholars of authoritarianism, we seem to emphasise one task over another without linking these features into a unified framework of authoritarian legislatures.

Legislatures are multi-dimensional

Recent research has taken a step toward advancing our understanding of authoritarian legislatures by comparing their strengths across regimes. While some authoritarian legislatures are correctly described as mere democratic façade, others have a much more significant impact on authoritarian politics.

Yet legislative strength is often primarily used to refer to parliaments’ relationship with the executive, i.e., the dictators. While this may be the most important dimension, it is only one of several. Therefore, a more disaggregated approach may prove useful in understanding their role and consequences in authoritarian regimes.

Like any legislature, authoritarian legislatures fulfil several functions simultaneously, including co-opting outsiders, legitimation, and providing a forum for elite bargaining

In fact, legislatures always perform multiple tasks at once. While the name suggests that law-making is legislatures’ primary task, even in democracies, they fulfil several functions simultaneously. These may also include linkage, representation, authorisation, and legitimation.

The same applies to authoritarian legislatures. They co-opt regime outsiders, legitimate the regime, and provide a forum for elite bargaining, all at the same time. Figure 1 shows how we can conceptualise legislatures’ tasks under authoritarianism.

Figure 1: Dimensions of authoritarian legislatures’ tasks

A matter of degree

The question then is not whether a legislature in any given regime performs these functions. Most legislatures in authoritarian regimes will perform all six tasks at least to some degree. For instance, even the Cortes in Spain under Franco engaged in lawmaking. The Vietnamese National Assembly, although primarily focused on portraying regime unity, also co-opts a small number of non-Party members. Instead, the question is to what degree authoritarian legislatures engage in these activities.

While China’s National People’s Congress has little ability to constrain party and government leaders, it fulfils several other functions, which can each be compared with other legislatures

Consider the example of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC). The NPC hardly constrains party and government leaders. However, we have evidence that behind the scenes, bargaining between elites and different government agencies is relatively common. Yet, as in Vietnam, it allows the maintenance of an appearance of strength and elite unity toward the public.

Since the NPC only accommodates a limited number of delegates that are not members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), its potential for co-optation is limited. On the other hand, its delegates have been shown to transmit important information upward.

Based on this previous research from the context of China, I invite scholars and practitioners to think of the NPC according to Figure 2. It shows that the NPC can fulfill different functions simultaneously but to varying degrees. Legislatures in communist regimes, for instance, send a stronger signal of elite unity to citizens. Meanwhile, in competitive regimes, they may actually be used as a scapegoat to improve the public perception of dictators.

Figure 2: dimensions of the Chinese National People’s Congress’ tasks

The NPC’s impact on policymaking may, in comparison to other legislatures, still be limited. Nevertheless, it should be stronger than legislatures’ influence in places such as the Middle East.

Since research on China’s NPC is relatively advanced, it is possible to produce the hexagon on the basis of existing studies. Other regimes, however, lack comprehensive studies on legislatures which makes it difficult to conceptualise them in the same way.

Inner workings

To generate a more nuanced typology of authoritarian legislatures, we need more research on their effects and inner workings in different regimes. Recent studies have paved the way for emerging research agendas, for instance on understanding legislators’ backgrounds, the work of committees in developing countries, and legislative amendments. Advancing along these lines will help us to move beyond current debates on authoritarian parliaments.

As almost every country has a legislature, it makes little sense to debate if they matter or not. Instead, we should ask ourselves more specifically where, when, for what, and for whom legislatures in authoritarian regimes matter.

We must move beyond asking whether a legislature exists to ask where, when, for what, and for whom legislatures in authoritarian regimes matter

Empirically, this also entails moving beyond treating the mere existence of a legislature as an indicator of anything. A legislature may or may not be constraining the executive. It may or may not be active in lawmaking. And so forth.

Future research should therefore also strive for more comprehensive data collection efforts concerning legislatures in authoritarian regimes. Geddes, Wright, and Frantz, for instance, only include a question on whether the legislature houses an opposition in their dataset. This can give us an idea about parliaments’ potential for co-optation but is not enough when studying legislatures.

Comparison and context

While it may be challenging to collect more comparative data across parliaments, such efforts will be extremely rewarding. Understanding the extent to which they perform all functions mentioned above goes beyond the mere study of legislatures. It will also shed light more generally on issues of elite politics, redistribution as well as political economy, and regime stability in authoritarian regimes.

By Felix Wiebrecht

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, V-Dem Institute, University of Gothenburg

Felix’s research focuses on authoritarian legislatures and elite politics, both globally and sometimes on China specifically.

His work has featured in Democratization, Policy & Politics, and the Journal of East Asian Studies.

Felix is also the Co-Organiser of the Authoritarian Political Systems Group.

felixwiebrecht.com

He tweets @FelixWiebrecht

This post was originally published in The Loop. The original piece is available here: https://theloop.ecpr.eu/the-black-box-of-authoritarian-legislatures/