We study political polarization in a parliamentary setting dominated by strong parties. In addition to examining polarization along the left-right dimension, we consider political divergence between legislators belonging to the same political bloc. Are politicians’ background characteristics...

In R (on the application of Privacy International) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal [2019] UKSC 22; [2019] 2 WLR 1219, the claimant sought judicial review of a decision of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) on the ground that the IPT had committed an error of law. But there was a preliminary...

This paper examines basic but very important questions in the democratic process: do individual candidates represent the will of their own district constituency, even in a parliamentary system with well-disciplined legislative parties? The answer is clearly yes: this paper demonstrates dyadic...

This paper traces the evolution of deliberative institutions in India to understand the role of deliberation in democratic life, as well as the ways in which deliberative bodies influence, and are influenced by, entrenched social inequality. The paper first unpacks the historical roots of Indian...

This note addresses the implications of R (Miller) v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union for the legal principle of parliamentary sovereignty, and argues that the strong restatement of the latter is the most significant feature of the decision. The aim here is to show how...

Constitutional structures shape politicians’ behaviour and hence policy outcomes through the different incentives schemes that they generate. In this paper we analyse these mechanisms in parliamentary and presidential systems. The comparison is carried out by analysing how the two systems may...

This article focuses on the importance of parliamentary oversight of the extractive industries in the South African context, and examines the potential of the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) towards serving the South African parliament vis-à-vis oversight of extractive resources. It points to...

Risikovermeidung scheint aktuell das Patentrezept für die Lösung all unserer Probleme zu sein. Zentralbanken ertränken die Gefahren unseres Wirtschafts- und Bankensystems mit Unmengen an Geld, und auch die Politik versucht, gesellschaftliche Missstände mit grosszügigen Geschenken unter den...

The Treaty of Waitangi has repeatedly been affirmed as New Zealand's founding document, yet our constitutional arrangements rest on the untrammelled principle of parliamentary sovereignty. This paper argues that the doctrine of parliamentary sovereignty is contrary to the sharing of powers...

By design, bicameral legislatures often produce tensions between lower chambers, with their direct, localized ties that often link members and constituents, and upper chambers, whose representative capacity is affected by varying sizes of constituencies and electoral mechanisms. With powerful...

This book presents a cultural history of European integration. It revisits the European Community's postwar origins through the lens of symbolic representation and so reveals a hitherto unknown side to Europe’s notorious technocrats. They were not simply administrators: they were skillful...

Re-established in 1867 by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise, parliamentarism institutionalised the powers of the legislature to exercise control over the government in Hungary as well, and Parliament established the State Audit Office to carry out the duty of economic control. However, Act XVIII...

The higher legislative success of parliamentary governments relative to presidential governments has been used to argue that legislative success is driven by parliamentary governments' superior agenda power or their control of legislative majorities. We show that this approach is at odds with...

Noting that legislatures need information to perform their representative, legislative and oversight functions, this Paper primarily looks at different sources of parliamentary information - parliamentary libraries (including research staff and internet access), parliamentary institutes and more...

A country's form of government has important economic and political consequences, but the determinants that lead societies to choose either parliamentary or presidential systems are largely unexplored. This paper studies this choice by analyzing the factors that make countries switch from...

In this paper, we integrate the identity of legislators in a politico-economic analysis of parliamentary oversight whereby oversight activities depend on individual control costs and incentives. We focus on public servants selected into parliament who face a conflict of interests but also have...

Studien über die institutionellen Determinanten innerstaatlicher Gewalt legen nahe, dass die Präsenz multipler politischer Parteien das Konfliktpotential innerhalb der Länder reduziert. Es wird behauptet, dass Parteien oppositionelle Gruppierungen in eine institutionalisierte politische Arena...

This paper discusses the potential contribution of parliamentary institutions and networks to the democratization of global economic governance. It places the analysis in the context of the larger debate on the democratic deficit of international economic institutions, in particular the WTO. On...

A country's form of government has important economic and political consequences, but the determinants that lead countries to choose either parliamentary or presidential systems are largely unexplored. This paper studies this choice by analyzing the factors that make countries switch from...

Constitutional structures shape politicians' behaviour and hence policy outcomes through the different incentive schemes at work. In this paper we analyse these mechanisms in parliamentary and presidential systems. Such a comparison is carried over by analysing how the two systems are able to...