The Role of Government Backbenchers

Author(s):  
Meg Russell ◽  
Daniel Gover

This chapter explores how government backbench parliamentarians in both chambers at Westminster influence the content of government legislation and the dynamics of politics. Government backbenchers are often thought to be Westminster’s most influential policy actors, operating through the ‘intraparty mode’. As summarized here, governments have recently become less able to rely on their votes, thanks to declining party cohesion. Yet governments are rarely defeated as a result of rebellious votes. This chapter analyses government backbenchers’ amendments proposed to the 12 case study bills—some of which served purposes other than immediate policy change—and their role as ‘pivotal voters’ in resolving legislative disputes with other (particularly opposition) actors. It also emphasizes their influence on legislation before it is introduced, and the importance of ‘anticipated reactions’. For example, ministers introduced the Corporate Manslaughter Bill only reluctantly, following backbench pressure. Backbenchers hence have subtle, and often hidden, influence in the legislative process.

Author(s):  
Meg Russell ◽  
Daniel Gover

This chapter explores the various means by which specialist select committees in both the House of Commons and House of Lords interact with and influence government legislation. The development of select committees is widely seen as important at Westminster, having encouraged greater expertise and specialization among members, and cross-party work. Yet the select committees have only a limited formal role in the legislative process, because the ‘committee stage’ occurs elsewhere. Nonetheless, this chapter shows extensive select committee influence on the 12 case study bills. The committees can be important to setting the policy agenda, informing members, influencing debate, encouraging amendments, and—potentially—supporting the government. This particularly applies to the constitutional committees in the House of Lords, and select committees conducting pre-legislative scrutiny of draft bills. However, other committees can also be important, as demonstrated by the Commons Health Committee’s intervention over the smoking ban in the Health Bill (2005–06).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuguang Wang ◽  
Rebecca Hii

Traditional theories deal with ethnic business mainly from the perspectives of structural opportunities and ethnic group characteristics. While they explain very well why some ethnic groups have higher rates of business formation and ownership than others, much less attention has been paid to the role of government policies in regulating the inflow of business immigrants and channelling ethnic entrepreneurs and related resources into different business sectors. Using Canada as a case study, this paper examines how changes in immigration policies have influenced business immigrant flows and ethnic business development (since most ethnic businesses are initiated and run by immigrants). This study found that the recent changes in Canada’s immigration programs have resulted in substantial decrease in the inflow of business immigrants, and may turn many resourceful business immigrants to the competing countries of the U.S., Australia and the UK, which all have more affordable and less restrictive investment requirements. The paper suggests that future studies of ethnic business should be expanded to include immigration policies as an explicit facilitating or restricting factor.


Author(s):  
Holly M. Mikkelson

This chapter traces the development of the medical interpreting profession in the United States as a case study. It begins with the conception of interpreters as volunteer helpers or dual-role medical professionals who happened to have some knowledge of languages other than English. Then it examines the emergence of training programs for medical interpreters, incipient efforts to impose standards by means of certification tests, the role of government in providing language access in health care, and the beginning of a labor market for paid medical interpreters. The chapter concludes with a description of the current situation of professional medical interpreting in the United States, in terms of training, certification and the labor market, and makes recommendations for further development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Agyeiwaah

Purpose Over-tourism signifies the dilemma of managing tourism growth in cities. With growing media sensationalism and an oversimplification of the phenomenon of over-tourism, its academic theorization has become extremely important. Using Macau, a Special Administrative Region of China as a case in point, the purpose of this paper is to theoretically explore the nexus between over-tourism and sustainable consumption in cities, highlighting governments’ inevitable role in this successful convergence. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on a selective systematic literature review (SLR) of existing studies in the form of both news material and academic journals. It investigates the growing concern of over-tourism and the contribution of sustainable consumption grounded in strong political support. It also adopts a case study approach with specific reference to Macau. Findings The general overview of the literature provides evidence of an age-old concept that has re-emerged to make local residents’ voice more pronounced. Generally, the studies concentrate on understanding residents’ attitudes, the perceived impact of over-tourism, community resilience and sustainable strategies to tackle the problem. Most popular studies are recent (i.e. 2018 and beyond) and empirically set in developed cities of Europe. Research limitations/implications The SLR used in the current study requires further empirical testing to validate some of the proposed concepts in the literature. Practical implications The study highlights the role of government in ensuring that sustainable consumption is sustainably implemented in the context of over-tourism. Originality/value Given the re-emergence of over-tourism, yet with few theoretical discussions on the concept, this study serves as a knowledge-base for future studies both empirically and theoretically.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-20
Author(s):  
Anna Brown ◽  
Simon Mark ◽  
Margaret Maile Petty

This article examines the challenges and complexities of assessing the value of design in contemporary economies, looking at New Zealand as a case study. Analysing the findings and recommendations of the first assessment of the economic value of design in New Zealand, published in 2017, this article seeks to bring greater clarity and understanding of the role of government and industry in a national design policy and ecosystem. Examining the performance and characteristics of New Zealand’s design ecosystem and the unique characteristics of its design in the context of other countries with well-established design policies, this article argues that the adoption of a nationally coordinated approach to design education and innovation provides widespread benefits. Through the analysis of the 2017 assessment, this article offers insights into viable methodologies for the scholarly study of the value of design. The study concludes by critiquing government investment in design, emphasizing the importance of design to innovation and the performance of companies.


2003 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 715-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vandna D. Bhatia ◽  
William Coleman

This article examines the conditions under which policy discourses can serve as contributing factors to policy change, even in the absence of changes in institutions and interests. It begins with a discussion of the role of ideas in policy analysis and how they can play a "constitutive role" as frames for policy. Drawing on a distinction between "augmentative" discourses that serve to reinforce an existing policy framework and "transformative discourses" that seek to persuade various publics of the need for significant policy change, four types of policy discourse are defined and a methodology is suggested for identifying these types. Two of these types, "challenging" and "truth-seeking," are hypothesized to be more conducive to the occurrence of significant policy change. Drawing then on case studies of policy change in Canada and Germany respectively, the article shows that a "challenging" discourse emerges in both countries, but leads to significant policy change only in Germany. Based on the comparison of the two cases, it is argued that three factors are relevant to whether a challenging discourse is successful or not: a broad consensus among core policy actors on the nature and gravity of the policy problem; the consistency of the discourse with broadly held normative values; and the persuasiveness of the "social facts" brought to bear in favour of proposed new solutions.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lihong Zhou ◽  
Yaqian Song ◽  
Tong Zhou

Purpose Self-service libraries (SSLs) have been regarded as an effective approach to provide convenient book services to the enormously large populations of China’s cities. These SSLs are in fact automatic book service machines, which provide a combination of services, including reading card issuing, book lending and returning, and book reservations and collection. However, despite acclaimed success, SSL services are not well received by patrons and are underutilised. The purpose of this paper is to identify and understand the causes of the underutilisation of SSL services in Chinese cities. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted an inductive approach and a case study research design. The SSL services in Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei Province, were adopted as the case study, in which 20 public librarians, SSL workers and managers, and library patrons were approached and interviewed using semi-structured question scripts. The interview data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Findings The analysis pointed to 13 causes in three main themes: management problems, service limitations, and the implicit role of government. Further conceptualisation of the findings revealed that the underutilisation of SSL services has resulted from the absence of a patron-centric perspective and the negligence of patrons’ needs and requirements. Therefore, to increase the popularity and usage of SSLs, it is necessary to develop patron-centric management mechanisms through which patrons’ needs and requirements can be effectively understood and responded to. Originality/value This study aims to develop specific suggestions to improve the usage of SSLs. Furthermore, although this study focuses on SSL development in China, this research can provide useful suggestions and implications that can be shared across international borders.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Anugerah Yuka Asmara ◽  
Toshio Mitsufuji

<p>PV has been firstly introduced in Indonesia by government as part of new and renewable enegies (NREs) since new order regime. During this regime, directive of PV development was totally determined by strong role of government. Afterwards, in reformation regime, role of enterprises to develop PV appeared when government issued regulation about use of local products as well as formation of the directorate of NREs at Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource (ESDM) in 2010. To capture phenomena of PV development during new order regime to reformation regime, technological innovation system (TIS) is used on this study. This study is a qualitative analysis using case study method developed by Yin. Finding of this study is that PV projects and its technology cannot be massively developed without intervention of government both in new order regime and reformation regime.</p><em></em>


This thesis is entitled “ The Role of Government in the Implementation of Local Development (Case Study in the Administrative Post of Uatolari) “ Local development is a measure of national development where the development growth in an advanced sub-district will automatically reflect the development itself. In the sub-district, development has been carried out which in the research will highlight physical development. Physical development in the sub-district in accordance with its implementation has not reached the planned target in accordance with the expectations of the community in the Uatolari sub-district. Thus, the problem can be formulated as follows: How is the government role in implementing local development?. The theoretical basis used in this chapter, the writer wants to explain the theory according to Prajudi (2000), the role of government in the implementation of development, while the method used in this research is descriptive method with research techniques such as qualitative data analysis, the subject of what is being studied is The functions and tasks that exist in the Uatolari sub-district and the object under study are affirming the implementation of physical development in the Uatolari sub-district consisting of 6 people, the instruments used are observation, interviews, documentation and interviews (asking and answering) to collect data and to process data to completion. The conclusion from the research results found that the role of the government in implementation in the uatolari sub-district is still lacking due to a lack of control, therefore it is necessary for the central government to monitor, supervise the physical development that is being built or in progress so that it will accelerate according to the specified time. Recommended to the Ministry of Home Affairs and Regional Development to pay attention to the Viqueque district national development agency in order to accelerate the process of implementing local development, in accordance with the expectations of the community, especially the ongoing infrastructure development in accordance with the national development strategic plan.


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