Parliamentary Representation in France
Parliamentary Representation in France

Author: Olivier Costa

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-05

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1351555006

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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.

Parliamentary Representation in France
Parliamentary Representation in France

Author: Olivier Costa

Publisher:

Published:

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781315090078

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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."--Provided by publisher.

Rationalizing Parliament
Rationalizing Parliament

Author: John D. Huber

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1996-08-28

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 9780521562911

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Rationalizing Parliament examines how institutional arrangements in the French Constitution shape the bargaining strategies of political parties. Professor Huber investigates the decision by French elites to include in the Constitution legislative procedures intended to "rationalize" the policy-making role of parliament and analyzes the impact of these procedures on policy outcomes, cabinet stability, and political accountability. Through its use of theories developed in the American politics literature, the study reveals important similarities between legislative politics in the United States and in parliamentary systems and the shortcomings in conventional interpretations of French institutional arrangements.

The French Parliament (1958–1967)
The French Parliament (1958–1967)

Author: Philip M. Williams

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-11-21

Total Pages: 137

ISBN-13: 1000478173

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Originally published in 1968, this book set out to give a brief but complete account of the French Parliament as it had worked in practice since the advent of President de Gaulle. A number of different aspects are discussed, from the social background of the members to the debates on five sample bills, and from the strategy of pressure groups to the organisation and character of the Gaullist party (about which very little had been written). While the legal framework within which the new parliament works is comprehensively described, attention is mainly focused on a political situation transformed by the end of the Algerian war and by the speed of social change in France itself at the time. Earlier books on the Fifth Republic naturally concentrated heavily on the spectacular crises of its early years and on the exceptional personality of its president. Remarkably little, therefore, had been written on the recent development of its institutions and politics in the peacetime conditions which France had enjoyed since 1962 for the first time for over twenty years. There was a Gaullist myth that the new regime had reformed the system and, against the obstructive opposition of an Opposition which had learned nothing and forgotten nothing, had won the support of the French people for a strong democratic government on British lines. There was a corresponding Opposition myth that a ruler and party of authoritarian temper had consolidated their power by reducing parliamentary criticism to an impotent farce. Neither interpretation was wholly unfounded; neither does justice to the complex reality which this work tries to explain as fairly as possible.

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.

The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law
The Cambridge Companion to Comparative Constitutional Law

Author: Roger Masterman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2019-10-03

Total Pages: 653

ISBN-13: 1107167817

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Comparing constitutions allows us to consider the similarities and differences in forms of government as well as the normative philosophies behind constitutional choices. The objective behind this Companion is to present the reader with a succinct yet wide-ranging companion to a modern comparative constitutional law course.