C9 - Legislature

C9 - Legislature

• 1.
  SEM 1, 2015/2016 PSCI2210 COMPARATIVE POLITICS
• 2.
   1) Size-Big size of assembly does not indicate strength as they cannot act cohesively. Small assembly – offers opportunities for all members to have their say in a collegial environment.  2) Number of chambers – Unicameral and bicameral. Unicameral are found in post- communist and small states. However bicameral are often found in large countries.
• 3.
   Weak bicameralism– when lower chamber dominates upper house[parliamentary government as its survival depends on maintaining assembly’s support and one chamber becomes the focus of accountability].  Strong bicameralism – when few federations when two chambers are more balanced eg. American Congress.
• 4.
   3. Committees– small workgroup of members created to cope with parliamentary business, particularly in lower and upper house.  Popular in American congress – Congressional committees with 3k policy specialist. Each committee has its won sub- committee eg) 86 subcommittees in Senate and 88 in the House.
• 5.
   1) StandingPermanent Committee- Considers bills in details. Scandanavian countries – committee parliamentarianism- SC negotiate the policies and bills before parliament votes. Sweeden- Committees modify one in three government proposals, or sometimes put their own proposals.  Great Britain- Committee rarely challenge the government’s bills (party-dominated legislature).  2) Select Committee – Scrutinizes the executives, often with one committee for each main government department.  3) Conference or mediation committee- Reconcile differences in versions of bill passed by each chamber.
• 6.
   1. Representation 2. Deliberation  3. Legislation  4. Authorizing expenditure  5. Making governments
• 7.
   Make lawsyet in reality, it is not the function. Why ? Great Britain – 97% of bills that were proposed by the executives between 1945-187 became laws.  Legislators’ function – to patch up errors made by the executives.  Active role in d/making – Switzerland . For example, bills originates from members either in federal assembly or any canton.  USA- assembly gets autonomy due to separation of powers . This is because party that does not occupy White House may still possess the majority in either both Houses in the Congress
• 8.
   House ofRepresentative can introduce Bill although bills lie in the hands of executive.  However, it is easy to defeat a bill than to pass on in Congress.
• 9.
   Legislature approvetax policies, government spending on specific program and pass budgets. In reality, in some circumstances, executives prepare budget, report to the parliament and legislature ratifies the proposal( without being modified).  Only a few countries allow assembly to amend budget i.e. USA. But in parliamentary democracy, the budget is rarely been modified eg. Australia and Malaysia
• 10.
   USA :Money for foreign aid cannot be distributed without the consent from the Congress.
• 11.
   Oversee andinvestigate the activities of the executive branch.  Techniques:  1) Questions : Direct questions from the legislators. British House of Common- 70k questions per year. France – Often the minister fails to answer questions from legislators.
• 12.
   2. EmergencyDebate : Parliament can call the government for an emergency debate. Emergency debate often ends with the government as the winner.  Example : In Great Britain, September, 2015, in response to Syrian war, the Opposition MP called the government to discuss about the governments’ plan to resettle Syrian refugees in Britain. For instance, when the government stressed that it would only accept 4k refugees yearly, the oppositions called for 10 k refugees.
• 13.
   3.Votes ofconfidence : Those opposed to the government sponsors the motion and if it passes, the government is expected to resign. A new parliamentary election is held.  However, the practice is rare because MPs may lose seats and job if their party loses in new elections. 
• 14.
   Sweden: Voteof confidence can be directed against the individual ministers as well as the government as a whole.  3. Committee investigation : Constitution gives Congress the responsibility for important matters such as commerce, currency and taxes.  In USA, executives must maintain good relations with the Congress to ensure the next year’s budget will be passed easily.
• 15.
   Example : 1) First Congressional Committee in USA was in 1792 – A special committee was selected among the legislators to investigate the disastrous expedition against Shawnee and Miami Indians that cost 657 lives of the American troops.  2) A special committee on Benghazi was selected in 2014 to investigate the death of 4 Americans in Benghazi , Libya in 2012. One of the victims was American ambassador. The committee members were 7 Republicans and 5 Democrats. No report was produced and many thought that
• 16.
  1) Professional politicians 2)Celebrities turned politicians 3) Political families Professional politicians : Political entrepreneur and career based politicians. Career politicians – flourish when the re-election prospect is good. Countries that practices plurality electoral system – positive when in USA when only 7 of 404 incumbent candidates in House of Representatives were defeated. What explains this factor?
• 17.
   Existing memberscan exploit resources such as their own experience in the House, public recognition to attract voters. Further, their experience give them the ability to cultivate their constituency as their own.  2) Celebrities turned politicians : Technology helps the rise of the politicians. Hence we see, career politicians are beginning to use media to compete with celebrity space – ‘politicians as celebrities’.
• 18.
   3) Politicalfamilies : Gandhis in India, Anwar’s in Malaysia. In Japan, more than a third of Member in its parliament are second- generation lawmakers.  What motivate the rise of political families ? Socialization process where politics is not viewed as interest but as an occupation.