Legislatures come in as many varieties as political systems. Most contemporary states, including authoritarian ones, have at least the facade of formal elected assemblies. All but a handful of countries, whether democratic or authoritarian, have some form of legislature. Of 192 states belonging to the United Nations (UN) in 2006, 189 national parliaments were listed by the International Parliamentary Union. While the terms parliament and legislature have specific meanings in each country, these English-language terms are used interchangeably in this entry. Deliberative assembly is a frequently used descriptive term as well.
Many provinces in unitary systems, as well as states within federations, have their own legislatures. Though municipalities and other local units also may have elected deliberative bodies, the formal study of legislatures has concentrated on national and provincial levels. Though executives, and the judiciary to a lesser degree, may be elective, in most countries the legislature is both the main representative organ of the state and at least the formal source of statute law. As representative bodies, legislatures potentially embody society’s diversity of people and opinions. Although competitive elections to parliament were the main initial transitional event as communist systems fell two decades ago, in other societies, legislatures are mainly passive symbols to legitimize authoritarian rule. In some regions and eras, democracy and legislatures have been episodic, interrupted by coup or insurrection.
Attributes And Generic Functions
While legislatures have many specific tasks, varying through time and by societal conditions, they all potentially have two basic generic, intertwined functions: representation of the people and interaction with the executive. Representation has a purpose: minimally to debate and also to approve, modify or disapprove of what the executive—royal, military, or elected—would either do or wish to do in the absence of the assembly. While the main models of the executive-legislative relationship in democracies are the British Westminster system, the American congressional-presidential system, and the continental European pattern, there are many variations in practice. In the Westminster system, the prime minister, elected through parliament, remains a member of parliament, while in the American system, the president is neither elected by nor a member of Congress. In the continental European pattern, prime ministers are elected by parliament but relinquish their own parliamentary membership during their service in the cabinet.
To accomplish their two generic functions, legislatures have five defining characteristics, with many variations: plural, with many members; selection through peaceful means, usually elective; constitutional existence; a complex internal structure among members who are equal in status; and decision making through voting procedures.
Plural
Though a country has only one chief executive, assemblies, to be representative, have always had more than one member. The size of legislatures varies roughly with the population size of the country. Small nations, for example, often have fewer than fifty members, while India, the world’s largest democracy, has 545 members in the Lok Sabha. In bicameral parliaments, the second chamber is usually smaller than the main chamber. The Nigerian lower house, for example, has 360 members, while the Senate has 109.
Selection
Though executives can seize power through coup or insurrection, legislatures are selected mainly through elections. The members of early medieval European parliaments were aristocrats, selected through inheritance or royal appointment. Some assemblies, especially in colonies and traditional monarchies, have been created by decree and filled through appointment. In bicameral legislatures, appointment and indirect elections are sometimes used to diversify the political and social composition of the main chamber.
In the aftermath of World War I (1914–1918), a broad suffrage became the norm among democratic states. The slow change from a selectorate of the few to the electorate of millions, created the conditions for the emergence of mass political parties that have transformed executives and legislatures and their elections. The two main types of legislative election systems are single-member districts with plurality voting (Britain, Malaysia, and the United States) and multimember districts with proportional voting (Indonesia, Sweden). Some countries use a mixed system (Germany, Hungary, and Japan).
Constitutional Existence
Historically, parliaments have often disagreed with monarchs, who have frequently either dissolved assemblies or have refused to call them into session. Constitutions now frequently limit the capacity of the executive to either call or dismiss legislatures and stipulate that legislatures meet according to a schedule. Members of legislatures often have immunity from prosecution in the exercise of their office.
Internal Structure
Legislatures have a flat structure in that all members are equal in status and rights, though in many countries, government ministers either belong to parliament or at least may participate in parliamentary proceedings. A complicated division of labor among the members, however, results in a complex structure of committees, parties, and leaders. To manage the process of decision making, legislatures define specific procedures, ranging from how a bill is introduced to how and when a question is decided in a final vote. Organization and procedures expedite work, protect the rights of each member against all others, and are intended to protect the legislature against the executive.
Decisions By Voting
Decisions by voting among equal members are a continuation of the broader democratic principle of elections. Just as citizens cast votes, so legislators vote to make collective decisions about policy and government.
Changing Legislatures In A Changing World
In the rapidly changing post–cold war world, legislatures appear in three new settings, which together potentially increase both the number and variety of institutions called legislatures.
First, the rapid formation of new countries leads to the equally rapid formation of new legislatures. In some cases, such as the Czech Republic and Slovenia, a legislature had already been developed at the subordinate republic level within larger states. In others, such as East Timor, prior legislative bodies were rudimentary at best. Some potentially independent states, such as the Palestine Authority, have developed elections and a legislature as part of the process of becoming independent, as former African colonies did.
Second, secessionist provinces, such as Chechnya within Russia or Abkhazia within Georgia, conduct their own elections to create new, but internationally unrecognized governing structures of presidents, prime ministers, and parliaments.
Third, bodies that begin to look and act as legislatures are emerging at the international level. While the Parliament of the European Union is the best example, other international associations, such as the World Health Organization, are developing legislative like institutions and practices as well.
Over centuries of experimentation and adaptation and across continents, legislatures have proved to be remarkably resilient bodies. In both authoritarian and democratic political systems, legislatures present at least the symbol of, and potentially the opportunity for, independent representation against the executive.
Bibliography:
- Blondel, Jan. Comparative Legislatures. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1973.
- Döring, Herbert, ed. Parliaments and Majority Rule in Western Europe. Frankfurt: Campus Verlag/St. Martin’s, 1995.
- Elgie, Robert, ed. Semi-presidentialism in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
- Hazan, Reuven, ed. Cohesion and Discipline in Legislatures: Political Parties, Parliamentary Committees, Party Leadership and Governance. London: Taylor and Francis, 2006.
- King, Anthony. “Modes of Executive-legislative Relations: Great Britain, France, and West Germany.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 1 (1976): 11–16.
- Kurian, George, ed. World Encyclopedia of Parliaments and Legislatures. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 1998.
- John D., and Malcolm Shaw, eds. Committees in Legislatures: A Comparative Analysis. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1979.
- Loewenberg, Gerhard, Peverill Squire, and D. Roderick Kiewiet, eds. Legislatures: Comparative Perspectives on Representative Assemblies. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2002.
- Mezey, Michael L. Comparative Legislatures. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1979.
- Morgenstern, Scott, and Benito Nacif, eds. Legislative Politics in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
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