Comparative Politics - Week 4 (Legislatures and Executives) Flashcards
what is a legislature?
a group of people coming together to legitimise decisions on behalf of others
who wrote the ‘decline of legislatures’
Lord Bryce
when did lord bryce write ‘the decline of legislatures’
1921
what did Lord Bryce say were the two main factors for the decline of legislatures?
increasing power of parties
expansion of the executive
what roles do legislatures serve besides law making?
legitimation
scrutiny
errand running
conflict-resolution
policy-influencing
what is parliamentarism
the increased importance of parliament since the 1970s
what is the main role of legislatures today
representation
scrutiny
What are the three reasons for an upper chamber
historical
large chamber
federal structure
what is congruent bicameralism
the two legislative chambers possess a similar political composition
what is incongruent bicameralism
the two legislative chambers differ in their political composition
what is symmetric bicameralism
the two legislative chambers differ in their political composition.
what is asymmetric bicameralism
the two legislative chambers possess unequal constitutional power
who came up with the ideas of arena and transformative legislatures
Nelson Polsby
what are arena legislatures
where there is a focus on plenary work and debate function, little impact on policy-making (UK)
what are transformative legislatures
focus on committee work and amending function, little public debate (Germany)
who came up with the idea of policymaking and policy influencing legislatures
Phillip Norton
what are policy-making legislatures
where they have the ability to initiate legislation and to amend and reject government legislation (Italy)
what is a policy influencing legislature
where they have the ability to introduce amendments to government legislation
what are little-or-no-policy effect legislatures
where they have no ability to amend legislation
what is descriptive representation
where the legislature exactly reflects the demographic make up of the country
what is substantive representation
where the legislature reflects the diversity of perspectives/ideas in a country
what is trustee representation
where representatives follow their own judgement about the proper course of action
what is delegate representation
where representatives follow their preferences of a group (party and/or constituencies)
what is local representation
where representatives act in the interest of their local constituencies