Parliamentary Committees: Scrutiny of the Administration (original) (raw)
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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.
INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF PARLIAMENTARY CONTROL OVER THE ADMINISTRATION
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This study is inspired by the attempts undertaken in Britain to reverse the alleged decline of Parliaments by their institutional improvements and especially by introduction of parliamentary committees, authorized to exercise rigorous control over the executive. It does not assume that the weakness of parliaments vis-à-vis the executive is necessarily problematic, but is interested in the attempts to strengthen the legislature that were motivated by such assumption, and especially in the tools employed and the results achieved by the reforms with the intent 'to restore the balance'. Therefore it explores the theoretical possibilities and the actual attempts to improve the decision-making and oversight capacities of
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.
The Routledge Handbook of Parliamentary Administrations brings together an international, multidisciplinary group of contributors providing a systematic and comprehensive analysis of parliamentary administrations. Including chapters on the administrations of national parliaments in every member state of the European Union, in most of the EU candidate countries and in key liberal democracies around the world, this book represents a uniquely broad-ranging resource. Each national system is treated in a consistent manner, with authors providing relevant facts, figures and critical analysis according to a common framework. Additionally, it provides coverage of transnational parliamentary administrations in different regions around the globe and includes a number of cross-cutting chapters, addressing key issues of relevance for a better understanding of parliamentary administrations such as the potential for politicisation, professionalisation, digitalisation or Europeanisation with the comparative analysis of different national experiences. This handbook will enable readers to better comprehend the role and influence of parliamentary administrations and in doing so will enhance our understanding of their importance for the effective functioning of representative democracy more generally. The Routledge Handbook of Parliamentary Administrations constitutes a unique tool and prime reference for any researcher, scholar or practitioner working in the area of parliamentary and legislative studies, governance, democracy, public policy and administration, as well as more widely to European studies, general political science and comparative politics.
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.
The idea of “parliamentary administration” might appear, at first sight, like an oxymoron: parliaments are the domain of politicians, the elected representatives of the people, whereas administrations are commonly understood as the executive bureaucracies carrying out the tasks of governments. Yet, perhaps paradoxically, also the work of parliaments, approving legislation and holding governments to account, requires administrative support, especially and increasingly in the modern age when the functions of public powers, and hence the demands on parliaments, have expanded significantly. Indeed, parliamentary administrations are essential for the proper functioning of representative democracy, albeit by a degree of separation: just as parliaments are central in the operation of a representative democracy, capable administrative support of elected representatives is critical for a meaningful execution of parliaments’ functions. Or, to put it in reverse, in the context of the modern state, a parliament without adequate support from a dedicated staff – facilitating meetings, providing logistical assistance, undertaking research, keeping public records, offering legal advice, managing public relations and international liaisons – would be in no position either to legislate or to hold the executive effectively to account.