The Implementation of Parliamentary Special Select Committees (Ad-Hoc) 2004-2012: An Important Lesson to Learn for Effective Checks and Balances in Future Parliament

In modern legislative institutions rely on Parliament to oversee government action, particularly through select committees (PSCs). PSCs are used in democratic parliaments to achieve good governance and hold the ruling government accountable. Nonetheless, the inadequacy of the current structure hinder the PSCs from operating effectively and efficiently. Therefore, the main objective of this article is to critically analyse the practices of the PSCs in the Parliament of Malaysia during Barisan Nasional from 2004 – 2012. This article adopts a qualitative approach of parliamentary ethnography through analysing documents as instruments in collecting data and library research. This study critically assesses the composition, membership and chairperson of the PSCs based on the provisions in the Standing Orders and other relevant statutes that govern parliamentary select committees in the Parliament. Based on the analysis, the article concluded that the composition of members and chairperson of PSCs during Barisan Nasional (2004 -2012) should be revisited and improved for future practice. Unlike the standards indicated in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Recommended Benchmarks for Democratic Legislatures, 2018, the study found several areas that need revisiting, including composition, membership and chairperson of PSC.

Consumer Policy

This chapter shows how and why consumer law and policy has developed in the European Union. It examines the contributions of the judicial and legislative institutions of the EU. It also explains the relevant changes made to the EU Treaties as they have been periodically revised. Consumer law is in part an application of EU internal market law, but it is also built on its own distinctive themes. These include consumer choice, transparency in the market, concern to protect the weaker party, and fairness. Consumer law also offers a helpful basis on which to assess the competing claims of maximum and minimum harmonization.

Entre o Direito e a Ciência Política: uma relação com futuro?

with its various elements. Therefore, it is not surprising that the great link between Law and Political Science was due to Constitutional Law and the General Theory of the State. When today we study the configuration of the State, we pay attention not only to administrative, judicial and legislative institutions, but also to the legal and political status that must be observed by the State and its governors. Thus, in today’s democratic States, Law and Politics intersect in different ways. States, based on constitutional precepts, rest on their legitimacy and legality, on these precepts that contain, in turn, a double character: legal and political. Political Science and Law researchers and, desirably, from other areas of Social Sciences and even from other scientific areas, have the current challenge, to place their areas of study, on investigative platforms, which allow the development of these areas in multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary models. Keywords: constitution; law; justice; power; politic

The Legislative and Executive Institutions and the Challenge of Governance in Contemporary Nigeria

The article examines the efforts of the executive and the legislature, i.e. the National Assembly at providing good governance against the backdrop of daunting challenge of insecurity in contemporary Nigeria. The paper employs secondary data to elicit necessary information to assist in its analysis and findings. Such data includes textbooks, journals, newspapers, magazines, periodicals etc. The findings are that both executive and legislative institutions pay lip service to quality governance. The two arms of government are tendentious towards kleptocracy. This development has compromised their efforts at fostering good governance. The work concludes on the need to convocate extra executive and legislature bodies (Sovereign National Conference) to discuss and analyse the contemporary questions with the aim of finding lasting solutions to the issues. The prognosis will not only be helpful to Nigeria but serves as a template for other African countries with similar issues.

Disaster Mitigation: Optimizing the Function of Executive and Legislative Institutions in Handling Covid-19

Through Presidential Decree (Keppres) Number 12 of 2020 the President has designated Covid-19 as a National Disaster. Handling Covid-19 requires good cooperation between elements, both society, government and state institutions. The President as an executive institution and the DPR as a legislative institution have very broad functions and powers in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. Namely, by optimizing the functions and powers it has in dealing with Covid-19 by establishing policies that aim to overcome Covid-19 without bringing political interests. This study uses a phenomenological research method with a normative juridical approach. With a descriptive analysis thinking method that aims to explain what is happening in the community and the government's anticipation in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. The results of this study are that the executive and legislative bodies must be more maximized and more assertive in implementing policies to deal with covid-19.

Kedudukan dan Pelaksanaan Fungsi Legislasi Dewan Perwakilan Daerah Pasca Putusan Mahkamah Kontitusi Nomor 79/PUU-XII/2014

The Local Representative Council is one of barometers of reformation success in Indonesian state administration. as the Local Representative Council becomes a new legislative institution that will strengthen and work closely with previously-established legislative institutions (People's Representative Council). This study aims to: (1) find out and identify the status of legislation function of Local Representative Council based on the regulation after the decision of Constitutional Court; and (2) find out and identify the implementation of legislation function of Local Representative Council based on the regulation after the decision of Constitutional Court. The research method used normative research with a statute approach and a conceptual approach and analyzed descriptive qualitative. The results show that the constitutional authority of Indonesian Local Representative Council as a legislator institution is still very weak. Since the decision of Constitutional Court was read, from normative perspective, there is no any legislation change, either in planning, proposing, or discussing the regulation draft in the Indonesian Parliament, related to the authority of Indonesian Local Representative.

AMBIVALENSI KEKUASAAN PREROGATIF PRESIDEN PASCA AMANDEMEN KONSTITUSI

This study discusses the political process relating to the issue of presidential prerogative control with an emphasis on the views and interests of the actors involved in discussing the issue. This study explains two main questions, namely how the actualization of presidential prerogative powers in Indonesia's presidential system after the constitutional amendment and what is behind the ambivalence of the president's prerogative power formulation in Indonesia's presidential system after the constitutional amendment. This study finds that constitutional amendments related to the president's prerogatives show ambivalence that distorts the prerogative meaning itself and is not strict between limiting or actually expanding the president's power. This happens because of the tug-of-war between legislative and executive interests. Behind the issue of controlling the president's prerogative powers, there is the interest of legislative institutions to equalize power with the president. Instead, the executive seeks to maintain or extend the president’s prerogative power.Keywords: Prerogative Power; Presidential; Amendment of Constitutions.Abstrak. Studi ini membahas proses politik berkaitan dengan isu pengendalian prerogatif presiden dengan penekanan pada pandangan dan kepentingan para aktor yang terlibat dalam pembahasan isu tersebut. Studi in menjelaskan dua pertanyaan pokok: (1) Bagaimana aktualisasi kekuasaan prerogatif presiden dalam sistem presidensial Indonesia pasca amandemen konstitusi? (2) Apa yang melatarbelakangi ambivalensi rumusan kekuasaan prerogatif presiden dalam sistem presidensial Indonesia pasca amandemen konstitusi? Hasil studi inii menemukan bahwa amandemen konstitusi terkait dengan prerogatif presiden menampakkan ambivalensi yang mendistorsi makna prerogatif itu sendiri dan tidak tegas antara membatasi atau justru memperluas kekuasaan presiden. Hal ini terjadi karena adanya tarik menarik antara kepentingan legislatif dan eksekutif. Di balik isu pengendalian kekuasaan prerogatif presiden, ada kepentingan institusi legislatif untuk menyetarakan kekuasaan dengan presiden. Sebaliknya, pihak eksekutif berupaya untuk mempertahankan atau mempeluas kekuasaan prerogatif presiden.Kata Kunci: Kekuasaan Prerogatif; Presidensial; Amandemen Konstitusi.

A Multi-Criteria Pen for Drawing Fair Districts: When Democratic and Demographic Fairness Matter

Electoral systems are modified by individuals who have incentives to bias the rules for their political advantage (i.e., gerrymandering). To prevent gerrymandering, legislative institutions can rely on mathematical tools to guarantee democratic fairness and territorial contiguity. These tools have been successfully used in the past; however, there is a need to accommodate additional meanings of the term fairness within the electoral systems of modern democracies. In this paper, we present an optimization framework that considers multiple criteria for drawing districts and assigning the number of representatives. Besides some typical districting criteria (malapportionment and contiguity), we introduce novel criteria for ensuring territorial equilibrium and incentives for candidates to deploy their representation efforts fairly during their campaign and period in office. We test the method, which we denote as Multi-criteria Pen, in a recent and a forthcoming reform of the Chilean electoral system. The results show the potential of our tool to improve the current territorial design and offers insights on the motivations, objectives, and deficiencies of both reform plans.

Do Term Limits “Limit” the Speaker? Examining the Effects of Legislative Term Limits on State Speaker Power

What is the role of legislative term limits in the structure of legislative institutions? Using Mooney’s collective action problem theoretical framework on legislative leadership power, I claim that legislative term limits should be a key determinant in a state Speaker’s power via the delegation of institutional tools that control the lawmaking process. Speakers can use these tools to influence policy outcomes and their colleagues. I test this expectation in an analysis of lower chamber rules in nearly all states between 1981 and 2015. The results indicate that states with implemented term limits are associated with a more powerful Speaker. These findings suggest that a more nuanced relationship between legislative term limits and leadership power exist than previously thought.