{"title":"Something old, something new? Votes of confidence, parliamentary dissolution, election timing, and judicial review under the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022","authors":"Francesco Bromo","doi":"10.1080/02606755.2023.2213530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2023.2213530","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Westminster ratified the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act in 2022. It provides that: (a) PMs’ ability to dissolve parliament through the monarch is restored. (b) Writs for general elections are bestowed upon the executive. (c) Some applications of the royal prerogative are non-justiciable. This article presents a critical summary of the history and content of the act, and it discusses its implications. (1) The repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act re-introduces flexibility vis-à-vis election timing. (2) The DCPA implies a transfer of dissolution authority from parliament back to governments. (3) The elimination of statutory confidence motions implies a return to the convention-based confidence procedure. This article argues that the bill rekindles cabinet supremacy. (i) Elections can be more easily strategically scheduled to the ruling party’s advantage. (ii) PMs can substantiate the employment of confidence votes with the threat of dissolution again. (iii) Leaders might capitalise on the absence of judicial review to further their agenda or elude the test of confidence. Altogether, the bill reshapes the relationship between the government and the legislature by deepening executive dominance to pre-FTPA levels and perhaps even higher, given the non-justiciability clause, at least as long as elections produce single-party majority cabinets.","PeriodicalId":53586,"journal":{"name":"Parliaments, Estates and Representation","volume":"6 1","pages":"194 - 211"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80845231","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Observing political and societal changes in Finnish parliamentary speech data, 1980–2010, with topic modelling","authors":"Anna Ristilä, Kimmo Elo","doi":"10.1080/02606755.2023.2213550","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2023.2213550","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Parliamentary speech reflects many events, changes and developments in society, as well as shaping them by influencing legislation and public interest. Knowing what topics have been dominant in parliamentary discussions can reveal what has been considered important at the time the speech was given. This knowledge can be achieved computationally with topic modelling, which can identify latent topics in large numbers of texts. Currently, the method is still underused in parliamentary studies and has only previously been used once with Finnish parliamentary speeches. This article aims to create and validate a topic model offering a robust overview of Finnish parliamentary speeches from 1980 to 2010, and to demonstrate the validity of the model by examining peaks in topic occurrences and comparing them to the historical and societal context at the times. The topics ‘energy’, ‘employment’ and ‘democracy’ were selected for closer inspection.","PeriodicalId":53586,"journal":{"name":"Parliaments, Estates and Representation","volume":"60 1","pages":"149 - 176"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83060345","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The contribution of the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions (ICHRPI) to the meetings of the Comité International des Sciences Historiques (CISH), International Committee of Historical Sciences (1985–2015)","authors":"M. Corciulo","doi":"10.1080/02606755.2023.2200031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2023.2200031","url":null,"abstract":"Speech delivered by Emeritus Professor Maria Sofia Corciulo, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, ICHRPI Honorary President, Coordinator ICHRPI/CISH, 23rd International Congress of Historical Sciences/CISH, Poznań, Poland, 25 August 2022. I am very happy to have the opportunity, on this occasion, of speaking about the International Commission for the History of Representative and Parliamentary Institutions and its commitment in the various CISH meetings that have been held from the second half of the twentieth century onwards. I can personally testify as to the scientific path, having taken part in those meetings, starting in 1975, where the ICHRPI has always held scientific sessions. It is therefore appropriate for me to dedicate the first part of my report to make known the cultural motivation that led to the constitution of the ICHRPI long ago in 1936 (it was one of the first international commissions recognized by the CISH). Running through the life of the International Commission, right from its outset and through to the present, means, so to speak, taking stock of the historical studies of European parliamentary institutions of the last century, starting with its founder, the Belgian Émile Lousse, professor at Louvain University. In 1933, at the seventh International Meeting of Historical Sciences, held inWarsaw, he promoted the creation of a permanent Commission – within the CISH – that could deal with the complex problem of the formation of the first state assemblies. Professor Lousse’s hopes were realized in 1936 when such a Commission was launched at the Bucharest International Meeting, and he became secretary-general. The Frenchman Colville was handed the presidency and the Italian Pier Silverio Leicht was the vice-president (recent research has revealed that he had a much more important role in the creation of the International Commission than was previously thought). The Commission’s name was Commission pour l’étude des origines des Assemblées d’États; initially consisting of a limited number of scholars – 10who gradually brought into being the French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Hungarian and Belgian national sections, this last one being the most numerous and active.","PeriodicalId":53586,"journal":{"name":"Parliaments, Estates and Representation","volume":"18 1","pages":"225 - 232"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73617095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Buying time to work outside: the effect of legislative leave reform in Uruguay, 1994–2020","authors":"Daniel Chasquetti","doi":"10.1080/02606755.2023.2193450","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2023.2193450","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT\u0000 In modern democracies, legislatures have developed ways for their members to resolve individual time allocation dilemmas. For example, the allocation of budget resources to enhance staff capacity and open district offices improves the efficiency of legislators’ work. The Uruguayan Parliament invests few resources in this type of activity. However, it has created a unique legislative leave mechanism by which members are granted time to do work outside of the Uruguayan Parliament, leaving in their place low-profile alternates loyal to the legislator’s party. In this article, I describe the reform of the legislators’ leave regime and I explain how deputies make strategic use of this device.","PeriodicalId":53586,"journal":{"name":"Parliaments, Estates and Representation","volume":"212 1","pages":"177 - 193"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79449833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Choosing a prime minister – the transfer of power in Britain","authors":"H. Kumarasingham","doi":"10.1080/02606755.2023.2185362","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2023.2185362","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53586,"journal":{"name":"Parliaments, Estates and Representation","volume":"1 1","pages":"223 - 224"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88297200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The persistence of party: ideas of harmonious discord in eighteenth-century Britain","authors":"R. Eagles","doi":"10.1080/02606755.2023.2185359","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2023.2185359","url":null,"abstract":"Indeed, Walters’ contentions concerning representation in chapter three and the issue of ‘parliamentary Erastianism’ in chapter two are likely to spark further discussion in the field. Furthermore, there remains more to be said on the influence of these debates beyond political thought and into political praxis, which the author evokes with reference to Whig and Tory debates and parliamentary activity from the 1670s to the 1690s. However, the focus on printed debates instead of manuscript material may tend to obscure some of the further complexities which Walters illustrates in this reassessment of the place of the Covenants in England after 1660.","PeriodicalId":53586,"journal":{"name":"Parliaments, Estates and Representation","volume":"281 1","pages":"219 - 221"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76793918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The National Covenant and the Solemn League and Covenant, 1660-1696","authors":"Robert D. Tree","doi":"10.1080/02606755.2023.2185364","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2023.2185364","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":53586,"journal":{"name":"Parliaments, Estates and Representation","volume":"27 1","pages":"217 - 219"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90637169","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Parliament and convention in the personal rule of James V, 1528–1542","authors":"A. MacDonald","doi":"10.1080/02606755.2023.2185363","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/02606755.2023.2185363","url":null,"abstract":"dated). Even in the reign of Edward II, when civil war seemed a possibility on a number of occasions, it was not until 1321–1322 that it became a reality. This is an important collection of essays, by some of the leading historians of the younger generation and testifies to the continuing vigour of research and scholarship in medieval history. All the essays are of interest, but one might single out for special notice those of Huscroft, Burt, Brown and King. Although the focus is of course on Edward I himself and his reign, something specific might have been said about his legacy. Edward I’s failure in Scotland and the financial confusion caused by warfare left major problems for his son and successor that even a more capable ruler than Edward II would have been hard put to resolve.","PeriodicalId":53586,"journal":{"name":"Parliaments, Estates and Representation","volume":"17 1","pages":"215 - 217"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72753356","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}