Author: psaparliaments

The Parliament of Ghana: A countervailing force in the governance process?

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date August 9, 2014

By Ernest Darfour

Ghana (or the Gold Coast at the time), established its first semblance of a Parliament (Legislative Council) in 1850 with representatives appointed by the British colonial government. The Legislative Council consisted of the Governor and at least two other person appointed by the colonial administration. The Legislative Council was required to make laws and ordinances necessary for the peace, order and governance of the Gold Coast. The legislature at the time was merely an advisory body and had no oversight power over the colonial government. Various agitations against the colonial authorities for equal representation and universal suffrage led to the transformation of the non-elected legislature into an elected Legislative Assembly in 1954.

Tags Ghana

Blog

#StudentsForDigitalDemocracy: A Summary of the Students’ Forum for the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date July 21, 2014

By Joshua Newton

Technology and social media are often revered as a 21st Century remedy to the ills of citizen detachment from politics and to the closed and elitist nature of UK political institutions. This was demonstrated by a recent Hansard Society Report which highlighted the central role that Parliament could play in communicating and engaging with the public. Yet with a unique organisational structure, that does not lend itself to far-reaching internal reform, the challenge of Parliament to devise and introduce a digital adaptation plan is daunting. Step-forward the Speaker’s Commission on Digital Democracy (DDC). Launched by John Bercow last year, its aim is to explore how representative democracy can embrace technology. Having been lucky enough to contribute through a students’ forum, I will outline some of the productive ideas that are emerging out of the inquiry’s ground-breaking and inclusive nature.

Tags digital democracy, Digital Democracy Commission, e-democracy, public engagement, young people

Overview of Parliaments

The Northern Ireland Assembly: A Parliament in a Challenging Political Climate

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date July 14, 2014

By Shaun McDaid

The Northern Ireland Assembly is the devolved legislature in Northern Ireland. The current Assembly was first constituted in 1998. This followed the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (GFA), signed in April of that year.

Tags Northern Ireland

Blog

Parliament’s digital engagement through issues – a case study: Diabetes in Parliament

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date July 1, 2014

By David Cragg and Cristina Leston-Bandeira

Parliaments have been experimenting with public engagement initiatives for some years now. From general cultural and educational initiatives, to far more specific events. From these the main lesson has been that the public engages through issues, not politics per se. Adapting its approach to this principle, the UK parliament has recently been developing new ideas, which try to maximise the idea of engagement through issues, at the same time as using digital means for a wider communication, beyond the usual suspects. Below we present the reflections of someone involved in a recent example of this type of engagement initiative: a #ParliChat around a Westminster Hall debate on the Melbourne Declaration on Diabetes.

Tags diabetes, digital democracy, House of Commons, public engagement, UK Parliament

Blog

What is the problem with the British political class?

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date July 1, 2014

By Paul Cairney

It is now commonplace in Britain to bemoan the failings of the ‘political class’. A wide selection of broadcast, print and social media commentators argue that elected politicians in the UK are not representative of their constituents. Instead, they are part of a self-referential ‘political class’ which is increasingly distant from the real world and mistrusted by the public.

Tags British political class, career politician, House of Commons, parliamentary candidates, recruitment, UK

Blog

One Small Step for Technology, One Giant Leap for the Commons

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date June 15, 2014

By Louise Thompson

House of Commons Speaker John Bercow suggested in a speech last week that it “wouldn’t be so heretical” to consider whether Commons votes might in the future be taken with the help of modern technology. Housed in the nineteenth century building is an increasingly techy Parliament and a digitally aware cohort of MPs. In the last few years alone we have seen MPs tweeting directly from the chamber, parliamentary papers delivered to Members’ iPads and speeches given from tablets rather than handwritten notes. Electronic voting then seems quite a natural progression.

Tags electronic voting, House of Commons, John Bercow, technology

Blog

Citizens working with lawmakers to make parliaments more open: a few examples from Brazil

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date June 11, 2014

By Cristiano Ferri Faria

In June 2013 the streets of Brazilian cities were taken over with protests by millions of citizens. It started as an outcry against the rise of public transportation fares. Then, many other issues came out including demands for better education and health systems. In short, citizens cried out for higher quality in public services as a whole.

Tags Brazil, citizenship, engagement, transparency

Blog

The four year itch

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date June 3, 2014

Please note that this blog piece was originally published in the Revolts blog on 03 June 2014, and is available here.

By Philip Cowley

We’ve been producing end-of-session reports on the behaviour of government MPs at Westminster for almost a decade. This morning we’ve launched the report on the 2013-14 session, entitled The four year itch (and which is free to download). It contains plenty to concern the party whips.

Tags Coalition, dissent, parliamentary rebellion

Overview of Parliaments

Parliament in the Republic of Ireland

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date May 25, 2014

By Muiris MacCarthaigh

The Irish Parliament, the Oireachtas (pronounced irr-okh-tuss), is a bicameral legislature consisting of a 166-seat directly elected Lower House, Dáil Éireann (pronounced dawl ay-run), and a 60-seat indirectly elected Upper House, Seanad Éireann (pronounced sha-nad ay-run).

Tags Republic of Ireland

Overview of Parliaments

The Swiss Parliament: A hybrid system based on the idea of changing majorities

Post author By psaparliaments
Post date May 22, 2014

By Andreas Ladner

The Swiss Parliament – or better the Federal Assembly – was installed in 1848 when the former confederation of 25 independent cantons became a federal nation state. The form and organization of the Parliament was one of the main points of discussion while drafting the Constitution. Those in favour of a strong nation state – the liberal and predominantly protestant cantons which won the short civil war (“Sonderbund War”) – wanted a National Assembly with a composition reflecting the prevailing population proportions of the cantons. This would have put the smaller predominantly conservative and catholic cantons at a considerable disadvantage. They wanted a revised form of the Federal Diet (the legislative and executive council of the Swiss confederacy prior to 1848) representing the cantons equally. This, however, would have prevented the Liberals who were in the majority and located in the larger cantons of the Central Lowlands from building a more centralized and unified nation state.

Tags Switzerland