Legislature PDF Document

Legislature Definition: The term legislature has to be distinguished from assembly: Assembly: the coming together of a group of people for some purpose Legislature: an assembly with political purpose and legislative tasks Within legislatures, parliaments and congresses can be distinguished: differ...

Legislature Definition: The term legislature has to be distinguished from assembly: Assembly: the coming together of a group of people for some purpose Legislature: an assembly with political purpose and legislative tasks Within legislatures, parliaments and congresses can be distinguished: differ with the type of relationship between executive and legislature What is a legislature: Legislatures within parliamentary ( or fused power) systems are called parliaments Parliamentary systems are characterized by: - An executive branch selected from within and by the legislature - An executive branch which can be removed from office at any time - A high degree of mutual dependence between executive and legislature Legislature with presidential (or separation of power) systems are called = congress Presidential systems are characterized by: An independent selection of executive branch legislature The absence of the ability to dissolve or remove the other from office (with the exception of incapacity or serious legal issues) Role of legislature The activities of legislatures can be put into the following categories: ▪ Linkage and representation ▪Oversight and control ▪Policymaking (Not the categories, but their importance differs between legislatures!) Linkage and representation (legislature as an agent) the legislatures need to be an agents of electorate 1. linkage link citizen to government Legislature as an intermediary between constituency and central government (Olson 1980: 135) Constituency = piece like city of the country The degree to which the legislature can serve as an effective means of communication between citizens and governments depend critically on the level of regularized interaction between the legislatures’ members and their constituencies  proximity It is more important when the executive is indirectly elected In parliamentary fused power system, the linkage function is more important for citizens because it can be the only mechanism of communication with central government This idea of linkage is more efficient in single member constituency because a single member will be more invested in his role than if he is opposed to a multi member party system 2. Representation Different interpretation of the legislature’s representative responsibility: - Delegates: legislators as mechanistic agents of their voters’ interests - Trustees: More active interpretation of representation, legislators as agents of the whole society 3. Debating: legislature are also important as public forums of debate Also important in a heterogeneous society where there are a significant policy-related conflicts between groups 4. Provide legitimacy for the political system Legitimacy is crucial for the political life of the democracy, it bring to government logic arguments to keep the trust of his citizens The ability to mobilize public support for the government as a whole is an important aspect of a legislature’s performance Oversight and control (legislature as a principal) 1. Control of the executive branch: besides voters, legislatures is second principal monitoring the executive branch Keep the control on the executive and mainly about the budget and how it is used Election is a fundamental process in democratic, citizens elect a government, but citizens often suffer of a lack of information’s and the technical capacity to oversee the political activity  It’s the first task to the legislative, be sur that executive won’t profited on the electorate In separation of power system, president can’t be removed from the office In SoP systems, the policy agenda of the executive branch is not subject to legislative control or oversight independent election of the executive and legislative branches makes it far more likely that there will be substantial differences in their respective ideological or partisan identities executive is elected by people not by legislative in SoP, so the relationship between executive-legislative will be less close than in a parliamentary fusioned system VS Parliament-type legislatures in fused-powers systems are explicitly tasked with policy-related control of the executive branch. Executive can be removed from office if their policy goals are deemed unacceptable by a majority in the legislature It can be done through a motion of censure or vote of no confidence In fused-powers systems, however, it is impossible for the majority in the parliament and the executive branch to be from wholly distinct and opposing parties or coalitions. All governments in fused-powers systems must have the implicit or explicit support of a majority of members within the legislature to remain in office This process reduces the likelihood of policy-related conflict between the legislature and the executive. Legislative is elected by people and are responsible of the executive, it’s a major reason that explain the relationship in fusioned power The main difference e between them is around the executive-legislative relationship 2. Oversight over: ▪ Budgetary implications of policies ▪ Timely and accurate implementation of policies ▪ Oversight instruments: Question-time, Hearings / special inquiries, Investigative committees, Reports on special issues (Question time is used in parliamentary system and provides regular scheduled opportunity for members of the legislature to present oral and written question to government )  Mechanisms like hearings, investigations, and audits are commonly used to hold the executive accountable, as there is no direct link or dependency between the two branches. -> SoP  Vote of confidence, motion of censure -> fusioned 3. Budget control: “The legislative control over the power of the purse( budget)” is the earliest historical function of legislatures (Magna Charta 1215).  This function is the control of budget to simplify Legislatures exert indirect oversight over executive policies through their control of the budgetary process, a practice rooted in early assemblies This established the norm of legislative control over national budgets, requiring their approval for funding and tax policies This control allows legislatures to shape decisions, including in areas traditionally dominated by the executive, such as foreign and security policy. Legislature as legislators ( both of agent and principal in policy making process) Legislatures involved in policy making process in several ways: consultation, delay, veto, amendement, initation Measuring power of legislatures: their relative ability to directly impact the policy process: - Arena types of legislatures: little direct policy-making influence - Transformative legislatures: high degree of direct policy making influence Internal organization structure Analysis of internal structures and resources of a legislature is a better measure of influence than just the formal powers There is a kind of criteria: 1. Number and types of chambers: One or two chamber systems ( unicameral or bicameral) Representative function: - Lower house: representing the population - Upper house: representing a socially on territorially defined group Relationship between the two chambers: Symmetric bicameral systems: Equally shared powers Equally divided powers Same mode of selection Avoid every king of concentration of power by creating a strong opposition  italy Asymmetric bicameral systems: Unequally distributed powers Different mode of selection 2. Number, quality, and consistency of members of legislatures - Size of legislature: the more legislators you have, the more decisions are discussed, the less the legislature is efficient. - Professionalization of the members - Member turnover from one election to the next 3. Committees Committees is currently created by parties and do a lot of legislative’s work Indicators of their influence: - Permanency they will be more efficient if they are permanent. - Specialization the more they are specialized, the more they will be efficient in their tasks. - Role within legislatures. - Role within legislatures - Policy preparing work makes committees influential as compared to plenary - Resources 4. Hierarchical structures and internal decision making - Proportional vs winner takes it all distribution of internal position  - Slow but compromise-oriented vs polarizing but efficient (unless low party cohesion) Assessing power Active/ passive role of legislature is tied to its degree of autonomy: two aspects of autonomy: 1. Institutional independence of legislature with respect to the executive: - Parliament: limited legislative prospects; power to elect/dismiss executive reduces the legislature’s independence vis à vis the executive, has to support it -> relationship implicate a responsibility and a need of common work -> dependent relationships - Congress: has more autonomy but no guarantee to succeed 2. Member independence with respect to the party, depend on Party organization: - higher degree of party centralisation and party’s role in selection of candidates reduces its members’ independence Party system characteristics: - The electoral system: parties are more important in PR systems (party centred systems) - State funding increases member’s autonomy  Autonomy triggering active/passive role of legislature depends thus on: ▪ Institutional independence: structures of political system, more particularly type of legislature and form of government ▪ Partisan independence: party-specific characteristics and party system features Legislatures’ ability to influence policy depends not only on institutional independence but also on the autonomy of individual legislators, which is shaped by the party system. Key factors include the degree of control party leadership has over candidate selection, election processes, and campaign funding, all of which affect legislators’ re-election prospects and independence. Centralized parties limit members’ decision-making freedom, while decentralized parties and systems emphasizing personal voter support enhance autonomy. Electoral systems and campaign finance rules also play crucial roles, with more independent systems allowing legislators to challenge party leadership or act independently. Together, these factors determine the legislature's effectiveness in shaping policy and legislative outcomes. Type of legislatures Relation between architecture and politics -> Cohen de Lara 2013 Semicircle -> circle -> horseshoe -> opposing benches -> classroom-> semi-circle, … There are some patterns between the construction of parlements and the type of politics Semi circles: Greek and romans (generally antiquity), members are fused into a single entity  Germany and France Opposing benches: no ideas of unity but more an idea competition and majoritarian systems, it encouraged debate between two parties  Uk, india Horseshoe: hybrid between horseshoe and semi circle  Bangladesh Perfect circle : idea of perfect equality, characterize homogeneous country Classroom: idea of domination by one person on the others, there is no debate