The Scottish Parliament: A Scandinavian-Style Assembly?

ISBN-13: 9780714655673 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 312 str.

David Arter

Opis

This book is unique in analysing the new Scottish Parliament from a systematically comparative perspective. Its basic premise is that since devolution in 1999 Scotland can be considered a Scandinavian-style democracy with several features of a Scandinavian-style parliament. The basic research question, therefore, is: 'Has the Scottish Parliament in its first four-year term manifested a Scandinavian-style politics in the sense that there has been a high incidence of inter-party negotiation within parliament?' The architects of the Scottish Parliament saw the committees as the motor of a 'new politics' and gave them extensive powers. Outside Austria, only the Swedish and Icelandic committees have comparable powers. Accordingly, the study sets out to describe and analyse the workings of the committees in the Scottish, Swedish and Icelandic parliaments. The concluding chapter also discusses the operation of the Danish, Finnish and Norwegian committees. The book draws on in-depth interviews with the chairs of the Scottish, Swedish and Icelandic committees. The first six chapters are organised around the theme 'The Scottish Parliamentary Committees. The Motor of a New Politics?' Chapters

Spis treści

PART I The Scottish Parliamentary Committees: The Motor of a New Politics?; Chapter 1 The Creation of a Scandinavian-Style Parliament in Scotland; Chapter 2 An Analytical Framework for the Comparative Study of Parliamentary Committee Systems; Chapter 3 Hypothesising on the Legislative Capacity of the Scottish Committees; Chapter 4 Leading the Scottish Committees: The Challenges of the Convenor's Role; Chapter 5 The Scottish Committees at Work: Corporate or Permeable Bodies?; Chapter 6 The Scottish Committees as the Motor of a 'New Politics'; PART II The Standing Committees in a 'Bargaining Democracy': The Case of the Swedish Riksdag; Chapter 7 The Challenges of Chairing a Swedish Riksdag Committee; Chapter 8 The Riksdag Committees as Legislative Initiators; Chapter 9 The Deliberative Function of the Riksdag Committees - Engine Room or Record Office?; Chapter 10 The Growing Investigative Capacity of the Riksdag Committees; PART III Old Politics' in an Ancient Parliament? the Case of the Icelandic Althingi; Chapter 11 The Challenge of Chairing the Althingi Committees; Chapter 12 The Althingi Committees in Action: Towards a 'Committee Culture'?; PART IV Conclusions; Chapter 13 Scotland: Towards a Scandinavian-Style Parliamentarism?; Chapter 14 The Second Scottish Parliament Election, 1 May 2003;

O autorze

David Arter