INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PARLIAMENTARY CONTROL OVER THE ADMINISTRATION (original) (raw)
Related papers
Parliamentary Committees: Scrutiny of the Administration
In the seminal typology of legislatures suggested by Michael Mezey British House of Commons ranks in the group of the ‘reactive legislatures’ characterized by modest policy-making power and still high public support. Currently most of the European democracies with parliamentary systems, qualify in the same group – it is inherent feature of the parliamentary government that the Cabinet effectively dominates the parliament through the very same majority that sustains it.
2020
Parliaments, the world over are apportioned with the arduous task of law-making; in order to efficiently undertake this function, they are assisted by various parliamentary committees with specific expertise. Parliamentary committees often act as mini parliaments, performing the cardinal function of deliberating and reconsidering bills before they are presented before the house. This paper undertakes a comparative theoretical study of legislatures with pre-existing empirical material to substantiate that the efficiency of a parliament is directly attributable to the success or failure of its respective parliamentary committee system. It further analyses the design features associated with committees in different legislatures and attempts to understand how it affects the legitimacy of the institution as a whole.
The study of legislative committees
The Journal of Legislative Studies
Proving that legislative committees really matter is not simple. The assembled papers aim to demonstrate fruitful paths to analysing when committees influence policy, what they can and should do, and how to detect their importance to the political process. KEYWORDS Legislatures; committees; policy Virtually all legislating assemblies of any considerable size employ committees of some kind that specialise topically and to which some significant tasks are delegated. Core roles include policy formulation, deliberation, and oversight activities. Committees are ubiquitous, so they must be important. But how important? And, when, where, and why do they shape policy outcomes substantially? The answers to those questions are not easily found. Strøm (1998) rates parliamentary committees 'among the most important features of legislative organisation in contemporary democracies', and perhaps that first, hedging, word is critical. Showing that committees are highly consequential is not trivial. The committee system has loomed large in the gigantic academic literature on the functioning of the US Congress, and, in particular, on that devoted exclusively to the US House of Representatives (see, for example, Cooper
Parliamentary Committees and Government Accountability—Role of Departmentally-related Committee
Indian Journal of Public Administration, 2000
Giving a brief conceptual framework on governmental accountability through parliamentary committee system under the Westminster model of democracy (the.framework extends to most of Third World democracies), the author explores the relationship between the two. Impartingfocus on departmentally-related parliamentary committees (DPCs), which shadow activities of respective government departments, he identifies the factors behind their popularity, specifies measures to promote governmental accountabz1ity through them, and examines their comparative advantages over individual devices of enforcing accountability of government (without discarding the importance and usefulness of these devices). He then, finally, looks at the structural and behavioural aspects of operationalising efficacy of the tool of DPCs.
Parliamentary Affairs, 2012
The departmental select committees of the British House of Commons deal with executive oversight, but not with legislation. This has two important knock-on effects. First, although these committees are permanent, expert, and largely well regarded in Britain, they are often overlooked by comparative scholars. Second, and connectedly, their impact on policy is very difficult to assess. Even in the UK there is considerable scepticism about whether the committees really matter to policy outcomes. This paper reports the first detailed cross-departmental investigation of the select committees' impact on government policy for many years, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. It concludes that numerous committee recommendations are implemented by government, including many for major policy change. But counting successful recommendations is a poor proxy for committee influence overall, and this also takes many other, perhaps more important, forms.
Functioning of Parliamentary Committees in Pakistan: An Analysis
Journal of Law & Social Studies, 2021
Parliamentary committees are a tremendous way to ensure predictability and transparency in the work of ministries, regulatory bodies and public sector enterprises via effectual function of oversight. A major challenge for democracies is to ensure good governance especially in changing the way the private sector and the government engages. This research provides a concise and analytical study of the functioning of the system of committees in democratic systems and in Pakistan. The research analyzed the effectiveness of the parliamentary committees which will form the basis for this work for further progress. The research work is analytical as well as descriptive in nature. Data related to this study has been collected by secondary sources such as books, journal articles, encyclopedias and research reports.