Jonathan Chibois of EHESS discusses recent technological innovations in the French National Assembly within the context of longer, historical trends in parliamentary reform.
Author: psaparliaments
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May 2020 Newsletter
We hope that, wherever you are, you are keeping safe and well. We have some updates for you, including:
- Our Annual Conference: Call for Papers/Blogs
- Undergraduate Essay Competition: Closing Date Approaching
- Changes to the Team: Goodbye to Marc and Hello to Stephen
- Recently on the Blog
If you have any notices/messages you would like us to circulate to the group, please let us know.
Best wishes,
Stephen (@Stephen_R_Bates), Louise (@LouiseVThompson), Gavin (@GavinHart10), Seán (@S_Haughey) and, for the last time, Marc (@marcgeddes)
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The Senate of Canada: Coming of a New Age?
Matt Williams of Jesus College, Oxford provides a fascinating overview of the effects of Trudeau’s reforms in the Canadian Senate.
In 2014, Justin Trudeau disbanded the Liberal caucus of Senators in Canada’s upper house. On becoming Prime Minister, in 2015, he appointed independent Senators on recommendations of a non-partisan body. More than half of Senators (58/103 in 2019) are now independents. In this blog, I will assess what observable effects, if any, reform has wrought on the Senate’s representativeness (Pitkin 1967), independent-mindedness (Russell 2001) and “redundancy” (Patterson and Mughan 1999). Statistical analyses of all 16,629 senatorial votes recorded in the 42nd Parliament are presented, along with machine reading data from all 1,611,817 words of enacted legislation. Preliminary evidence suggests that Senators are independent-minded but not transforming legislation, so a new age of Canadian bicameralism is yet to come.
The PSA Parliaments 2020 Annual Conference will be held on 12-13 November at the Council House, Birmingham.
Stephen Holden Bates (University of Birmingham, UK)
Stephen McKay (University of Lincoln, UK)
Mark Goodwin (Coventry University, UK)
The results of the elections for the UK House of Commons Select Committees are out[1]!
The 2010 Wright Reforms, designed to increase the standing of Parliament in the wake of the MPs’ expenses scandal, are now a decade old. One of the main reforms introduced was to alter the method of selection for House of Commons Select Committees[2] from one of appointment by party managers to one of election by the whole House (in the case of chairships) and by party caucuses (in the case of membership). This reform has been hailed by many as one of the reasons why select committees have become an ever more prominent and prestigious part of Parliament. There is also evidence that the reform has been good for some aspects of gender equality within the committee system, particularly in terms of female MPs becoming committee chairs[3]. Below we consider the outcomes of the latest round of select committee elections and argue that, in terms of female representation, they are a case of simultaneously bedding down, treading water and taking two steps forward.
As Westminster gets virtual Franklin De Vrieze of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy provides an overview of how a number of parliaments are adapting to unprecedented challenges associated with emergency powers, social distancing and executive scrutiny.
The physical distancing at Westminster is also leading to increased political distancing of government from parliamentary scrutiny, writes David Judge. He explains that the latter has already been happening and is likely to continue, even after the social distancing measures are lifted. The blog was originally written for the LSE Politics and Policy page but has been kindly shared with the PSA Parliaments Specialist Group.
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An Unhealthy Scrutiny?
Stephen Holden Bates, University of Birmingham discusses potential difficulties effecting scrutiny of the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The piece considers problems that may arise due to Jeremy Hunt’s role on the Health and Social Care Select Committee.
Franklin De Vrieze, Senior Governance Adviser at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy discusses the role played by independent oversight institutions in ensuring democratic accountability. As governance processes occur within a country’s political-economic and legal-constitutional context, bringing accountability to national governance cannot be left to those individuals and groups holding power. Independent oversight institutions have a specific role in strengthening accountability which is complementary to the oversight role of parliament. Because the relationship between parliament and independent oversight institutions is sub-optimal in many countries, this article discusses the issues shaping their relationship, outlining how to make it more productive.
Caroline Bhattacharya uses an analysis of Bundestag debates on the Euro crisis to highlight the relationship between cohesion and control in internal positioning strategies taking place within political parties.