Effective Parliament
EFFECTIVE PARLIAMENT;
Parliaments organize themselves effectively to carry out their key functions. Although ‘effectiveness’ may not at first sight seem a distinctively democratic value, it becomes so where the functions performed are those necessary to the working of the democratic process: law making, oversight of the executive, financial control, and so on. Electorates are not well served if parliaments do not have sufficient resources to carry out these functions, or are wasteful or ineffective in the use made of the resources they have. What may seem at first sight as merely ‘technical’ or ‘procedural’ considerations turn out to be relevant to outcomes, in terms of legislation and financial expenditure that serves societal needs. The same goes for a wider aspect of a parliament’s effectiveness, and that lies in its capacity to perform the important role of sustaining and promoting national integration, especially in situations where this may be threatened.
Contents
1. Why do we need an effective parliament?
2. Key issues affecting the effectiveness of parliament, that of scrutiny.
a. Parliament is scrutinized is via the official Opposition.
b. Scrutinizing the government in the Parliament.
c. Cross-party method of scrutiny is committees.
d. The media also scrutinizes from a non-political perspective.
3. Three general rules of parliamentary effectiveness.
4. Seven preconditions of parliamentary effectiveness
5. Effectiveness of Parliamentary Oversight on Defense and National Security in Pakistan
6. An effective parliament a. The national level b. The international level.
7. Five steps to make the Indian parliament more effective.
8. Conclusion.
9. Recommendation.
1. Why do we need an effective parliament?
The answer is that, as a community, we have a right to expect that the political process will respect principles other than simply that of managerial efficiency in decision-making. The norm of responsible
Parliaments organize themselves effectively to carry out their key functions. Although ‘effectiveness’ may not at first sight seem a distinctively democratic value, it becomes so where the functions performed are those necessary to the working of the democratic process: law making, oversight of the executive, financial control, and so on. Electorates are not well served if parliaments do not have sufficient resources to carry out these functions, or are wasteful or ineffective in the use made of the resources they have. What may seem at first sight as merely ‘technical’ or ‘procedural’ considerations turn out to be relevant to outcomes, in terms of legislation and financial expenditure that serves societal needs. The same goes for a wider aspect of a parliament’s effectiveness, and that lies in its capacity to perform the important role of sustaining and promoting national integration, especially in situations where this may be threatened.
Contents
1. Why do we need an effective parliament?
2. Key issues affecting the effectiveness of parliament, that of scrutiny.
a. Parliament is scrutinized is via the official Opposition.
b. Scrutinizing the government in the Parliament.
c. Cross-party method of scrutiny is committees.
d. The media also scrutinizes from a non-political perspective.
3. Three general rules of parliamentary effectiveness.
4. Seven preconditions of parliamentary effectiveness
5. Effectiveness of Parliamentary Oversight on Defense and National Security in Pakistan
6. An effective parliament a. The national level b. The international level.
7. Five steps to make the Indian parliament more effective.
8. Conclusion.
9. Recommendation.
1. Why do we need an effective parliament?
The answer is that, as a community, we have a right to expect that the political process will respect principles other than simply that of managerial efficiency in decision-making. The norm of responsible
References: [1] John Uhr, ‘Parliament’ in A. Parkin, Government, Politics and Power in Australia, Longman 1994, pp. 43. [2] John Uhr. ‘The Size of Legislatures’ vol. 8, no. 1, Spring 1995, pp.11 [3] G. Reid, ‘Parliament and Delegated Legislation’ (ed.), 1982, pp. 149–168 [4] J.A. Pettifer, op. cit., pp. 355–363. [5] M.L. Barker, ‘Accountability to the Public’ (ed.), 1995, pp. 228–266. [6] M.L. Barker, op. cit.; John Uhr, ‘Redesigning Accountability, 1993, pp. 1–16. [7] http://www.dawn.com/2011/05/15/parliament-condemns-us-raid.html [8] http://www.asgp.info/Publications/CPI-English/1991_162_01-e.pdf [9] http://www.ipu.org/splz-e/trade03/2c.pdf [10] M. V. Rajeev Gowda , Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, sept8,2013