Cinquante ans d’interprétation parlementaire

FORUM ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-124
Author(s):  
Jean Delisle
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Members Of Parliament

Parliamentary interpretation was introduced in the House of Commons of the Parliament of Canada on January 15, 1959, fifty years ago this year. The author describes the stages of establishing this new service and gives the names and background of the first seven interpreters. He also shows that, at the time, interpretation was perceived by the Members of Parliament and journalists as a constitutional necessity in a country officially bilingual. Thanks to the interpretation, the French unilingual MPs participated more actively in the political debates which took place mostly in English before. The interpretation has contributed to strengthen parliamentary democracy, institutional bilingualism and national unity.

22. Women in the House of Commons

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosie Campbell ◽  
Sarah Childs ◽  
Elizabeth Hunt
Keyword(s):  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Demand Model ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Political Recruitment ◽  
Supply And Demand Model

This chapter examines the progress of women's participation and representation in the House of Commons. It first considers women's descriptive representation in the House of Commons over the last century, with emphasis on the differences in the proportion of women Members of Parliament (MPs) elected by the main political parties. It explains improvements in the numbers of women MPs in the last decade or so, together with the party asymmetry, by reference to the supply and demand model of political recruitment. It then reviews arguments for women's equal participation in politics, taking into account how women's descriptive representation intersects with symbolic and substantive representation. It also discusses resistance to the claim that women's representation matters and concludes with an analysis of the masculinized nature of the political institution that women MPs inhabit, along with the recommendations made in the 2016 The Good Parliament report.

1. The Starting Point

2021 ◽  
pp. 5-29
Author(s):  
Peter John
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Party Government ◽  
Institutional Rules ◽  
Nation States ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Uk

This chapter discusses what makes British politics distinctive and recognizable: its parliamentary democracy, uncodified constitution, and pattern of party government. It begins by outlining some recent events that have made British or UK politics so fascinating and controversial. The chapter then describes the political system, particularly the institutional rules that affect what happens and govern how politics takes place. Parliament, composed of the House of Commons, House of Lords, and the Crown, is the supreme legal authority in the UK. The chapter also provides a summary of the British constitution. It places the UK in a comparative context, to be studied alongside other nation states. Finally, the chapter sets out the information and concepts that help in understanding the nature of and limits to British democracy.

Measures taken by the House of Commons in Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-180
Author(s):  
Sarah Priddy
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Virtual Participation

Abstract As Covid-19 began to change all aspects of daily life, the House of Commons was no exception. The pandemic meant changes to parliamentary procedures such as ‘hybrid proceedings’ that required most MPs to attend the Chamber via Zoom. To track these changes, the House of Commons Library created a spreadsheet to record the COVID-related procedural changes, now published as a “https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/house-of-commons-coronavirus-timeline/” timeline on the Commons Library website. This article looks at changes to Commons procedures and practices, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, to allow for virtual participation and remote voting. Although the House of Commons has been significantly impacted by the ability of Members of Parliament to attend Westminster due to the coronavirus, the political parties and House administration have worked together to adapt procedures to allow virtual participation and remote voting at the height of the pandemic in the spring, followed by limited virtual participation in the summer.

The Politics of Corn Law Repeal and Theories of Commercial Policy

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. McKeown
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Commercial Policy ◽  
Large Shift ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Independent Source ◽  
Members Of Parliament

The large shift in voting in the House of Commons on repeal of the Corn Laws in the 1842-46 period has led many analysts to focus on the political calculus of Peel's government and on the role of ideology in shaping this policy change. While the claim that ideology was an independent source of change lacks substantiation, the claims about Peel's changing political calculus are an important part of a larger explanation for the change in voting. However, showing that Peel had his own reasons for preferring repeal is not the same as showing why Peel was successful. An analysis of the political and economic interests of constituents and Members of Parliament reveals that these interests were systematically related to Members' votes on repeal. Repeal is thus more appropriately understood as the result of the interaction of Peel's immediate objectives with a more congenial political environment that had arisen due to the changes induced by British economic development.

4. Supporting Members and Peers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Geddes ◽  
Jessica Mulley
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Digital Service ◽  
The Past ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
Political Sources ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Sources Of Support ◽  
The Uk

This chapter examines the way the UK Parliament is administered and organized in terms of the support offered by the institution to Members of Parliament (MPs) and peers to fulfil their parliamentary, political, and policy functions. The House of Commons employs roughly 2,500 and the House of Lords around 500 members of staff, in addition to staff in the bicameral Parliamentary Digital Service. These staff provide invaluable and impartial support to Parliament. This chapter considers the political and non-political sources of support provided to MPs and peers in carrying out their role and how the resources available to parliamentarians have increased over the past two decades through a range of parliamentary reforms. It also discusses key issues and debates arising from the support given to MPs and peers, including the issue over whether staff exist to serve the institution of Parliament or to support parliamentarians.

3. Debating Politics and Making Laws

2021 ◽  
pp. 63-97
Author(s):  
Peter John
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Scottish Parliament ◽  
House Of Lords ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

This chapter evaluates the institution of the UK Parliament, where parliamentarians have a chance to debate issues of the day and to make laws. It reviews classic arguments about the power of Parliament in relation to the executive, before looking at the role of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The account is still influenced by the Westminster system of government, whereby the executive in the form of the government is sustained in power by having a majority in the House of Commons. The chapter then considers what Members of Parliament (MPs) and other representatives do in office, and how their behaviour links to other features of the political process, such as public opinion and constituency interests. It also compares other legislatures, such as the Scottish Parliament, with the UK Parliament.

The Parliamentary Labor Party in Great Britain

1950 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-871
Author(s):  
James Macgregor Burns
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
The Political ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Labor Party ◽  
The Past ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Formal Power ◽  
Equal Power

Who rules Britain? For the political scientist hunting out the real core of power, the question is hard to answer. Students of British politics have variously concluded that the Cabinet, or Parliament, or the party in power, or the administrative class of civil servants, or the “Big Three” (or Four, or Five)—or some combination of these—actually held the reins of authority. Constitutionally, however, the question is an easy one. Formal power rests with a majority of the Members of Parliament. This majority can pass laws and raise money, can bring down governments and make new ones, can change the Constitution itself.Those who have ruled Britain in this sense during the past five years have been a few hundred Labor Members of the House of Commons, organized in the Parliamentary Labor Party. Constitutionally, this is the ruling group, every member of which has equal power. In fact, a small minority of Labor Members, grouped in or about the Cabinet, actually make the great decisions of state. At the same time, the large majority of Labor Members not only lack real power but even in their very name —Backbenchers—they appear as the symbols of impotence.

scholarly journals The Committee Process: Platform for Participation or Political Theatre?

2016 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Cara Faith Zwibel
Keyword(s):  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
Political Theatre ◽  
Political Will ◽  
Members Of Parliament ◽  
Meaningful Participation ◽  
Legislative Agenda ◽  
Legislative Proposals ◽  
The Government ◽  
Process Platform

In Canada’s parliamentary democracy, the government controls the legislative agenda. At least in the case of a majority government, government bills tabled in the House of Commons will ultimately become the law of the land. While the passage of legislation emanating from the government may appear inevitable, the system is structured to provide multiple opportunities to debate and discuss legislative proposals. The process of making law provides some avenues to test and question legislative initiatives, particularly those that may appear inconsistent with Canada’s Constitution; lawmaking may also provide opportunities to ensure that the voices of Canadians — not all of whom feel represented by the government or their Members of Parliament (MPs) — are heard.Unfortunately, while some of these changes and many others are worthy of study and consideration, there is little evidence of any political will to reform the way our committees function. As a result, we are likely to continue to see political and partisan dramas play out before our committees and will have to look to different venues for meaningful participation and debate.

Division de pouvoir et intégration social: de Montesquieu à la crise actuelle du parlementarisme

1968 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-269
Author(s):  
André Vachet
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
Social Division ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
Vital Forces

Division of power and social integrationExplanation of some of the recent challenges to western democracy may be found in a re-examination of Montesquieu's thought. Here we find the theory of the separation of power to be far more complex than is implied in the simple divisions of legislature, executive, and judiciary. For Montesquieu, the separation of power is more a social division than a political or juridical one. He contemplated returning the organs of political power to various social forces, e.g. monarchy, aristocracy, and bourgeoisie, and that then the self-assertion of forces would be restrained by the resistance of other social groups. The realization of its goals would require every important social group to integrate itself both to society and to the state and to seek its goals through realization of the general good.Since Montesquieu's time, political structures would seem to have been very little changed even though social structures have been greatly altered by the rise of economic powers. Political institutions have been losing touch with the vital forces of society and these have had to find other channels of expression. The personalization of power, the rise of the executive, violence, and increasing paternalism may be viewed as phenomena of compensation by which attempts are being made to bridge the gap between the structures of political power and those of a society which has been restructured.Revigoration of parliamentary democracy would seem to require that all vital social forces be reintegrated into the political system and be given meaningful channels of political expression. Failure to make such changes opens the way to identification of the political powers with technocracy and the increasing general use of violence in the resolution of social problems.

The Israeli–Lebanese war of 2006: consequences for Lebanon

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-210
Author(s):  
Ziad Hafez
Keyword(s):  
Arab Countries ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Major Consequence ◽  
Political Narrative ◽  
Defence Policy ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Impact

This article focuses on the political narrative in Lebanon before and after the Israeli war against Lebanon in 2006. It revolves around the subject of national unity as a sine qua non condition for success for the Lebanese resistance led by Hezbollah. A major consequence of the narrative on national unity is the need to build a modern state and establish a cohesive defence policy. The paper also examines the impact of the war on Lebanon's economy and on its relations with the rest of the world (the USA, France, Syria, Arab countries, and Iran).

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