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    Kreppel - Legislatures

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    CHAPTER 7 - Legislatures Amie Kreppel Chapter contents Introduction ‘What is a legislature? The role of legislatures ‘The internal organizational structures oflegislatures Assessing a legislature's power Conclusion me ne. 120 124 130 13 Reader's guide “This chapter addresses the political rotes and powers of leg islatures. The first step isto define different types of legisla- tures on the basis oftheir functions and relationship with the ‘executive branch, The analysis then turns to an examination of the roles of legislatures within the politcal system a5 3 whole, as well as several critical aspects of the internal orga rizational structures of legislatures. Fall, the relationship between the political power and influence of a legislature land the structure of the broader political anc party systern is discussed, Throughout the chapter the focus is on legisla: tures within modem democratic political systems, athough rmany points apply to al egislatures regardless of regime. 18 AMIE KREPPEL Introduction “The role of legislatures within the broacler political system in which they exist is far from straightforward. Different scholars have come to very different conclu sions about the political power and policy influence of legislatures. General evaluations vary depending on the cases that are studied, the theoretical framework em. ployed, the historical period under examination, and the precise understanding of ‘power’ and ‘influence’ invoked. This chapter examines the influence and importance ‘of legislatures across a variety of different ‘core’ tasks, including representing and linking citizens and govern- ment, overseeing the executive, and, of course, palicy- ‘making, The importance ofthese tasks, and the variation that exists between legislatures in their peeformance, make the understanding of legislatures a critical compo: nent of any attempt to comprehend politics more gen- ‘erally, Legislatures exist in nearly every country on the planet, and have the potential to play an important po- litical role even in non-democratic systems.’ “KEY POINTS: ® Legislatures are present throughout the world and play ‘central rale in almost all political systems ® Howover, variations in theie powers and structures are lange What is a legislature? ‘The variety of terms such as ‘assembly, ‘congress; or ‘parliament’ that are often used interchangeably with the term ‘legislaturo’ increases uncertainty about the roles and powers of legislatures. Before we can examine the types of legislature that exist it is necessary to define ‘what a legislature is, The exact meaning of these terms is, not as clear as one might expect, Definitions of assembly, legislature, parliament, and congress provided in dic tionaries do not always differentiate between these terms (see Box 7,1). All four are defined as‘a legislative body’ or ‘a body of persons having the power to legislate: making, efforts to clearly distinguish between them difficult. Yet most would agree thet the terms are not interchangeable. ‘Of these four terms ‘assembly’ is the most general Additional definitions of the word (uncapitalized) refer simply to the coming together of a group of people for some purpose—for example, a school assembly. It is ‘only when we add the qualifier ‘political’ or ‘legislative’ that we think of assemblies in the same context as leg- islatures, parliaments, and congresses. Parliaments and congresses, generically, can best be understood as spe

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