Representation From Above
Representation From Above

Author: Peter Esaiasson

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 1351904221

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This book uses Sweden as a test case to analyze how parliament and elected representatives function in a representative democracy. Despite the status of Scandinavian countries as perhaps the world’s most egalitarian societies, the book argues that the best summary characterization of Swedish representative democracy is an elitist system run from above. The book also argues that an individualist representational model is relevant to the Swedish setting and most likely, to other settings as well. Representative democracy is not just party-based democracy - not even in a country with strong and disciplined parties. The book takes a broad approach to the study of political representation. It integrates into a single analytical framework concepts and theories from neighbouring traditions such as legislative behaviour, opinion formation and interest organizations. The study is based on a comprehensive set of data, including three surveys of the Members of the Swedish Parliament, corresponding voter surveys and content analysis of mass media and parliamentary records.

Parliament the Mirror of the Nation
Parliament the Mirror of the Nation

Author: Gregory Conti

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-04-25

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1108428738

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The notion of 'representative democracy' seems unquestionably familiar today, but how did the Victorians understand democracy, parliamentary representation, and diversity?

Parliamentary Roles in Modern Legislatures
Parliamentary Roles in Modern Legislatures

Author: Magnus Blomgren

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2015-02-13

Total Pages: 294

ISBN-13: 1136456414

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This book gathers the most influential authors on role research and legislative studies to examine the different roles that MPs are playing in modern-day legislatures. It provides a comprehensive and critical overview of current research on legislative roles, summarises previous research, presents a large variety of methodological approaches and also explores the latest developing approaches to role theory. The concept of political roles has become increasingly relevant for understanding contemporary political systems. Parliamentary, legislative and representative roles are professional roles that provide a way of connecting the individual legislator to their institution that can also explain a legislator’s attitude and behaviour. Drawing upon case studies with as much as 40 years of data that include Germany, the Netherlands, UK, Austria, Hungary, Australia, New Zealand and the European Parliament, this book examines the link between representative roles, different institutional settings and parliamentary behaviour. It argues that the roles MPs play depend of who they think they should represent; between their voters, their party, the people of their country and also themselves, conflicts of loyalty can occur. This book provides a framework to analyse MPs’ choices by searching both the reasons for their views about representation, and the consequences of those views in parliament. Parliamentary Roles in Modern Legislatures will be of strong interest to students and scholars of government, legislative studies, political parties, comparative politics, political sociology and deliberative democracy.

Parliamentary Representation in France
Parliamentary Representation in France

Author: Olivier Costa

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1351555014

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Despite real improvements since the beginning of the last decade, legislative studies are still underdeveloped in France, compared to other modern democracies. This weakness is linked to the characteristics of the political system itself: the Constitution of 1958 has created a semi-presidential regime, the centrality of which has been constantly reinforced since. The French parliament is thus supposed to be extremely feeble. This lack of interest for legislative studies is also to be found in the specificities of French political sociology, which pays little attention to institutions.As a result, very few papers and books deal with French chambers and MPs. Yet, they are fascinating cases of study for scholars interested in parliamentary representation, professionalization of political life, and French politics. The French parliament and MPs are deeply paradoxical: MPs are very attached to the concept of national sovereignty but remain involved at local level and in surgery work; the French National Assembly is supposed to be weak, but is quite active and influential; citizens are more aware of the role of MPs than it seems, and their views and values are closer than predicted. This book gathers seven papers from the LEGIPAR research project (2008-2012). The project was designed by the contributors to rejuvenate French legislative studies by collecting systematic data on MPs socio-biographical profiles and activities, conducting face-to-face interviews, gathering exhaustive data on National Assembly activity and organising focus groups to analyse citizens perceptions of their MPs.This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Legislative Studies.

Parliament and Congress
Parliament and Congress

Author: William McKay

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2010-06-03

Total Pages: 596

ISBN-13: 0199273626

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In Parliament and Congress the constitutional background and the procedures are described and where possible compared in an entirely fresh look at the two legislatures. Though their constitutional positions and development are quite distinct, they nevertheless have much in common historically and face many of the same contemporary problems.

Speaker's Conference (on Parliamentary Representation)
Speaker's Conference (on Parliamentary Representation)

Author: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Speaker's Conference

Publisher: The Stationery Office

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 118

ISBN-13: 9780215543141

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The House of Commons agreed unanimously in November 2008 to establish this Speaker's Conference. The Conference was asked to look into the reasons why women, members of the black and minority ethnic communities and disabled people are under-represented in the House of Commons, and to recommend ways in which the situation can be improved. Issues relating to the representation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities were also considered. Currently most MPs are white, male, middle-aged and middle-class: the House of Commons should reflect more closely the diverse society in which we live. The Conference makes and draws 71 recommendations and conclusions. Individual chapters cover: the case for widening representation; citizenship and engagement; the importance of political parties; the role of the MP and how to become one; selection processes and barriers to selection; tackling supply-side barriers; changing the culture of Parliament. The Conference reports after a period of unprecedented diminishing of the House's reputation through the expenses scandal. This has combined with increasing dislocation between citizens and the democratic process. The need for change is recognised and this report outlines many practical steps that can be taken to correct under-representation. Broadening representation would also bring a positive benefit of improved effectiveness in the development of legislation and the scrutiny of Government performance.

Parliament and Parliamentarism
Parliament and Parliamentarism

Author: Pasi Ihalainen

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2016-01-01

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 1782389555

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Parliamentary theory, practices, discourses, and institutions constitute a distinctively European contribution to modern politics. Taking a broad historical perspective, this cross-disciplinary, innovative, and rigorous collection locates the essence of parliamentarism in four key aspects—deliberation, representation, responsibility, and sovereignty—and explores the different ways in which they have been contested, reshaped, and implemented in a series of representative national and regional case studies. As one of the first comparative studies in conceptual history, this volume focuses on debates about the nature of parliament and parliamentarism within and across different European countries, representative institutions, and genres of political discourse.