Traditional comparative studies of parliaments have focused on constitutional and organizational characteristics of parliaments, or differences in the historical context, in which legislative assemblies have developed. The motivations of individual members of parliament have been neglected.

In this volume, a distinguished team of specialists explore the relationship between parliament and government, and consider to what extent parliaments have the capacity to constrain governments.

Legislatures have one core defining function: that of giving assent to measures that, by virtue of that assent, are to be binding on society. In practice, they have usually performed other roles as well, such as debating measures or the conduct of public affairs. They have existed for centuries. They span the globe. Most countries have one; federal states have several. Commentators throughout the 20th century have bemoaned the decline of legislatures, yet the number shows no sign of declining; if anything, the reverse and their prominence has increased in the 1990s because of developments in...

How does the British policy process deal with conscience issues? What influences MPs? Does Parliament still decide?

Parliaments widely had been expected to decline in significance in the later part of the 20th century, but instead they have developed new and vital political roles and have innovated in their institutional structure - most recurrently in newly organised or invigorated parliamentary committees, not only in a few parliaments, but as a global phenomenon.

This is a description and assessment of Asian parliaments. It looks at the parliaments of India, Bangladesh, Korea, Japan, China, Mongolia and Nepal and assesses key variables that determine the impact of parliaments.

Parliamentary members and parliamentary leaders recurrently find themselves in uneasy - and even testy - relationships. The interests of parliamentary leaders in programme adoption often are at tension with the concerns of members of parliament with individual advancement in parliament and party, with interest articulation and with constituency concerns. This cross-national work analyzes these difficult and often testy relations and tensions between parliamentary members and leaders through studies ranging from Germany to the United States, and from New Zealand to global perspectives. The...

The European Union has had an effect on national decision-making and the chain of delegation and accountability in five parliamentary democracies. The country studies here present the most important changes that are taking place as Denmark, Finland and Sweden adapt to EU membership and Iceland and Norway participate in the European Economic Area (EAA). The analyses are based on a principal-agent perspective and the contributors show that a transfer of power from the national level to the supranational level does not necessarily mean that domestic delegation fails or that accountability is...

Who is really making EU laws and regulations? Formally, and according to most popular accounts, responsibility lies with European politicians who are directly elected (MEPs) or indirectly accountable to elected bodies at the European or national level (council). In practice, however, as this book shows, things can be very different. The real makers of European legislation and rules are frequently unelected and far from the public gaze. This book describes and evaluates the role of many such unseen lawmakers, including commission officials, experts from national governments and companies,...