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Chapter three: Debating politics and making laws
- ‘The Policy Power of the Westminster Parliament: The “Parliamentary State” and the Empirical Evidence: The Policy Power of the Westminster Parliament’
This article by Meg Russel and Philip Cowley assesses the policy influence of Parliament and argues that critics too often wrongly focus on visible influence, failing to look closer at negotiations and anticipated reactions. Thus, parliament is not to be deemed powerless but rather an institution with significant policy influence at successive stages of the policy process.
- ‘The effectiveness and influence of the select committee (2017-19)’
This report takes an in-depth look into the work of select committees. Pay particular attention to its themes of accountability and its description of a policy feedback loop. The section titled ‘A talking or a working Parliament’ nicely links to the things discussed in chapter three, concerning whether parliament is passive or not.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmliaisn/1860/1860.pdf
- ‘MPs must choose between loyalty to democracy or to Boris Johnson’
This article is a nice short read. What is useful here is the executive-legislative dynamic at play. The fusion of powers described in this article suggest that parliament is a prominent player, one that the executive cannot avoid. Notice how this article pins down two problems, the first being a constitutional crisis and the second being the choice between prime minister and the principles of a parliamentary democracy.
- ‘The contemporary House of Lords: Westminster Bicameralism revived’
This video shows author Meg Russell discuss the key themes of her book titled above. This video is useful when considering the evolution of the House of Lords and the ‘revived’ nature of Westminster bicameralism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwgHtHwHwuY
- ‘Brexit and Parliament: The anatomy of a perfect storm’
This article is a great read and touches on up-to-date issues such as Brexit. It describes how parliamentary powers are becoming ever more controversial since the 2016 referendum decision to leave the EU. The populist fuelled narrative of ‘parliament vs the people’ raises crucial questions regarding where UK sovereignty should lie.