7 The Confederacy of Dunces: The Legislative Function

1. 7The Confederacy of Dunces: The Legislative Function

2. Democratic Legislatures • While lawmaking is the most fundamental role legislative institutions play, they perform all of the following roles • Lawmaking, Representing, Checking, Legitimating, and Educating • These will be examined in turn

3. Lawmaking • This is the most basic function of democratic legislatures • Bills are introduced by legislators but may come from constituents, interest groups, the executive, etc. • Most of the work of crafting legislation (research, hearings, debate, amending) occurs in committees

4. Legislative Representation • Another fundamental job of legislators is to represent their constituents • A bicameral (two house) legislature is useful if there is a need to represent different segments of society • Such as geography (the U.S. Senate) or Class (the British House of Lords) • The redundancy of two houses provides an additional check but also slows things down

5. Types of Representatives • A delegate is a representative who attempts to do exactly what her constituents want • A trustee believes that voters trust them to make the right decision • In reality, most act as a politico: acting as a delegate when an issue is important to the constituency and there is strong consensus and acting as a trustee the rest of the time

6. Checking • It is the responsibility of government institutions to watch over other government institutions (oversight) • For instance, investigative hearings • Parliaments have shadow governments made up of members of the minority party

7. Legitimizing • Establishing the law as something that should be accepted • How is this done? • This can simply be because an issue was decided in the legislature

8. The Educating Function • Democratic legislatures must educate the citizenry • This is facilitated by the media • Members with geographic constituencies may also try other means of communication and education in the district

9. Hello, Mr. Smith • Ideal institutions must be adapted to the reality of the challenges that people face. • Mr. Smith Goes to Washington portrays an idealistic, but naïve, senator who gets caught up in real-world politics. • What does he do to kill a graft-laden public-works piece of legislation? • He uses a filibuster; what’s that? • It’s the tactic of indefinitely talking about a bill, in order to frustrate the majority who favor the bill. • Does this sound very democratic? • Even idealists must sometimes use political methods to achieve their goals (boycotts, civil disobedience, interest group pressure, etc.)

10. Parliamentary Instability • Because it is difficult to enact big changes in a presidential system, social and economic policy remains fairly consistent • In a parliamentary system, sweeping change is easier and too much change can be a problem • Especially true for business or economic planning or any policy that looks to the future (education, law enforcement, etc.)

11. Parliamentary Instability • A second source of instability in parliamentary systems is the tenure of the government itself • A simply majority vote of no confidence will lead to the formation of a new government and often new elections • The instability problem of parliaments is the opposite and equal to the gridlock problem with presidential systems

12. District v. Proportional Systems • A district system elects an individual who is clearly responsible for representing the interest of the district • A proportional system increases the number of parties and the variety of political perspectives represented • And it ensures almost every vote is reflected in the final representation

13. Coalition Governments • With more parties, it is often necessary to form coalitions to maintain a majority • These are often ad hoc and uneasy alliances • Especially when a minor party is in a key position to form a coalition one way or another • These relevant parties gain influence that far outweighs their electoral support

14. Coalition Governments • While parliamentary governments do not suffer from gridlock, they may suffer from immobilism • The more complex and fragile the ruling coalition, the more difficult it is to enact coherent legislation • Occasionally a minority government will rule with an agreement that another party will abstain from a no-confidence vote

15. Representation Flaws in District Elections - Gerrymandering: intentionally drawing districts to gain partisan advantag - Splitting the loyalty of the representative between the nation’s and the district’s best interest - District loyalty discourages party loyalty and encourages pork-barrel politics - Much of the legislator’s job is comprise of constituent service

16. Authoritarian Legislative Institutions • Do they have legislative institutions in non-democratic countries? • Yes, but they do not represent the public’s interests the same way as they do in democracies. So why have them? • They still serve valuable political functions. • For example, debates in the Chinese parliament, even if scripted, offer explanations to the public for why laws are being enacted.

17. Authoritarian Legislative Institutions • Can provide important representation and advisory functions • Especially in oligarchies • Can also legitimate laws and decisions • More so if the people believe the parliaments are truly representative