Author: psaparliaments

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Papers

Parliamentary effectiveness in shallow democracies: with examples from Bangladesh and Ethiopia

Authors: Emma Crewe (SOAS) with Nizam Ahmed, Zahir Ahmed, Meheret Ayenew and Ruth Fox (Hansard Society)

Abstract:

Parliamentary effectiveness is an important component of a well-functioning democracy. But what makes an effective Parliament and does it vary in different countries? In our three year DFID-ESRC funded research project we have been asking a range of stakeholders – MPs, civil society leaders, academics and constituents in the capitals but also in constituencies in Bangladesh and Ethiopia – what they expect from Parliament and their representatives in their own contexts? We have researched Parliamentarians’ engagement with the public during the making of budgets, laws and policies and contrasted how male and female politicians relate to citizens differently. Although Bangladesh and Ethiopia face increasing political turbulence and have shallow democracies in the sense of (a) Parliamentary elections but no opposition in Parliament and (b) severe restrictions on the media and civil society, the relationship between MPs and citizens is starkly contrasting in the two places. Ethiopian MPs have minimal interaction with their constituents while Bangladeshi MPs get involved with every aspect of political life, maintaining complex networks of patronage and benefit for their supporters. Demands from citizens diverge between the two countries so working towards what Arjun Appadurai calls ‘deep democracy’ will require different strategies and innovations. What they have in common is that the failure to enhance Parliament’s citizen engagement constitutes a serious risk to peace and stability.  The same may be true in European countries as well.

This paper will be delivered as part of our academic panel on “Parliaments in Comparative Perspective”, between 10.00am and 11.30am.

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Events News

Workshop on Quantitative Statistics for Dabblers

quants-workshop-2The PSA Parliaments & Legislatures Specialist Group, in conjunction with the British Politics Research Group at the University of Birmingham, held a methods workshop on the statistical analysis of parliaments and legislatures on the 16th September 2016. Aimed at ‘dabblers’, the workshop was organized by Stephen Bates (Birmingham), Mark Goodwin (Birmingham) and Steve McKay (Lincoln) and, using their British Academy-funded project on Select Committees as a focal point, guided participants through the research process from initial ideas through data collection, management, modelling and analysis to completed paper.

The workshop was attended by 12 post-doctoral students and researchers from across academia and the third sector and was generally well received with one participant saying “Many thanks to Stephen, Mark and Steve for an excellent workshop. I’ll be recommending it, should you decide to hold another in the future”.

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Events News

One-Day Conference: “Making Parliaments Work: What Makes For an Effective Parliament?”

Politicians, the public, think-tanks, journalists and academics alike have increasingly focused in recent times on how parliaments and legislatures work and how to make them work better in terms of policy-making, representation, scrutiny and accountability. Yet, despite this focus, the evidence base for making judgments about the effectiveness of parliaments and legislatures is arguably not as extensive as it could be, perhaps partly because of methodological difficulties in assessing the influence, impact and power of these institutions.

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Blog

The Representativeness of the Australian Senate and Failures of Reform

By Richard Reid [1]

Prior to the 2016 federal election held on 2 July, the Australian Coalition government demonstrated a rare degree of collaboration with the Australian Greens and passed changes to reform the electoral process for the Senate. This post seeks to explain the reform and its intentions, and its complete failure in the wake of Australia’s double dissolution election. Further it argues that the debate about Senate reform should go much further than these changes, and the whole structure of the Senate’s composition should be opened up for debate in an effort to increase, rather than decrease, the representativeness of the Australian Senate.

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Blog

‘Verto’ – An App for Youth Political Engagement

By Alex Dobson, Emily Rainsford and Oliver Sidorczuk

Even when a choice seems quite straightforward, like in the recent European Union referendum, elections can seem confusing, with complex jargon and an increasing number of parties to consider. With the continuing decline of voting according to traditional party ideologies and identities, combined the worryingly low voter turnout amongst young people in particular – just 43% in 2015 General Election – the need for mechanisms to engage voters has never been greater.

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Events News

PSA Annual Conference 2017: Call for Papers!

The 2017 PSA Annual Conference will be held in Glasgow on 10th – 12th April 2017 and we hope to be able to put forward some specialist group panels for this.

If you would be interested in presenting an individual paper as part of our specialist group panel, please complete a Paper Proposal Form with an abstract of no more than 250 words by Friday 7th October 2016. If you would be interested in putting together a panel for the conference please complete a Panel Proposal Form by the same date. We will be in touch during the week of 10th October to let you know if your paper has been successful.

This call is open to all members of the group. There are, as yet, no panel themes so all pape and panel proposals are welcome. Postgraduate students are also encouraged to apply (particularly as there is no early career conference this year). Those who wish to present would be eligible to apply to the PSA Postgraduate Access Fund for financial support to attend the conference.

We had a really successful 2016 conference, with more papers and panels than we’ve ever had before. So we look forward to hearing from you!

For our Panel Proposal Form, please click here (opens Word Document).

For our Paper Proposal Form, please click here (opens Word Document).

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Blog

Labour’s turmoil, the business of opposition and parliamentary democracy

By Jake Watts

Ralph Miliband’s Parliamentary Socialism celebrates its 55th anniversary this year. A key historical work, it examined the relationship between the Labour Party and the UK Parliament. From a Marxist perspective, it argued that the failure of the British Left to achieve radical strides towards unadulterated socialism could be in substantial part attributed to the acquiescence of the Labour Party to the rules and norms of the United Kingdom’s parliamentary democracy. In putting forth such an argument, Miliband struck at the heart of a debate about the relationship between Labour and Parliament that underpins the disunity that now threatens the party’s efficacy as Her Majesty’s Opposition.

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Blog

Reflections from the PSA/House of Commons Placement at the Petitions Committee

By Tom Caygill

Last year I was one of the lucky two applicants to be offered one of the PSA/House of Commons Committee Office placements. The placement was a great opportunity: to utilise the skills I use in my PhD in a different context, while developing new ones; to better understand the ethos of select committees; and to discuss my doctoral research with parliamentary staff, which has gone on to help shape my final research design.

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Blog

The Good Parliament: it is about more than breastfeeding and trans-toilets

By Sarah Childs

Lots of people have to plenty to say about what is wrong with the UK parliament. Many do so at some distance from the Palace of Westminster. The Good Parliament report, launched on 20 July, is the culmination of a year working intimately with members and with House officials: its 43 recommendations are guided by this experience and expertise and offer a ‘menu of reforms’ that when implemented would meet the Inter-Parliamentary Union’s gender sensitive parliament status. Indeed, the report goes beyond this approach in developing and setting out proposals to deliver a diversity sensitive parliament.

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News

Essay competition 2016 – result

This spring, the Parliaments and Legislatures SG held the first essay competition open to all undergraduate students. This essay competition was open, where students were asked to write about a parliament, legislature, or a specific matter concerning legislative studies.

The members of the judging panel were Michael Rush (Exeter), Lynn Gardner (House of Commons) and Richard Whitaker (Leicester). They judged the essays on four criteria (originality, rigour, strength of analysis and quality of presentation/style). The essays were anonymised and so the panel did not know which university each essay represented.

We are very pleased to announce that the winning essay was by UCL University student Sam Holcroft (nominated by Meg Russell), for the essay on “How much control should political parties have over their members in parliament? And how much do they have in practice?”. Sam will receive a prize of £150. You can read his essay here.

The runner-up was Matthew Robinson (Surrey University, nominated by Louise Thompson) for an essay on “Does the Liaison Committee scrutinise the Prime Minister more effectively than MPs at Prime Minister’s Question Time?”. You can read his essay here.

Thank you to all that took part in the competition. We very much hope to continue the competition in future years to help promote our knowledge of parliaments and legislatures and encourage people to learn more about them.