The Politics of Legislative Debates
Marc Debus editor Jorge M Fernandes editor Hanna Bäck editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Oxford University Press
Published:8th Oct '21
Should be back in stock very soon
Legislative debates make democracy and representation work. Political actors engage in legislative debates to make their voice heard to voters. Parties use debates to shore up their brand. This book makes the most comprehensive study of legislative debates thus far, looking at the politics of legislative debates in 33 liberal democracies in Europe, North America and Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. The book begins with theoretical chapters focused on the key concepts in the study of legislative debates. Michael Laver, Slapin and Proksch, and Taylor examine the politics of legislative debates in parliamentary and presidential democracies. Subsequently, Goplerud makes a critical review of the methodological challenges in the study of legislative debates. Schwalbach and Rauh further discuss the difficulties in the comparative empirical study of debates. Country-chapters offer a wealth of original material organized around structured sections. Each chapter begins with a details discussion of the institutional design, focusing on the electoral system, legislative organization, and party parties, to which a section on the formal and informal rules of legislative debates ensues. Next, each country chapter focuses on analyzing the determinants of floor access, with a particular emphasis on the role of gender, seniority, legislative party positions, among others. In the concluding chapter, the editors explore comparative patterns and point out to multiple research avenues opened by this edited volume. The Oxford Politics of Institutions series is designed to provide in-depth coverage of research on a specific political institution. Each volume includes a mix of theoretical contributions, state-of-the-art research review chapters, comparative empirical chapters, country case study chapters, and chapters aimed at practitioners. Typically, the majority of chapters in each volume comprises of country studies written by country experts. Volumes in the series are aimed at political scientists, students in political science programmes, social scientists more generally, and policy practitioners. Series editors: Shane Martin, Anthony King Chair in Comparative Government and Head of the Department of Government, University of Essex; and Sona N. Golder, Professor of Politics, Department of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University.
This is the definitive volume on legislative debates and a must-read text for scholars interested in political institutions and representation. The editors masterfully outline the case for studying legislative speech, and draw together insights from a diverse set of democracies to shed new light on the rules governing debates and factors that determine who speaks in legislatures. * Diana Z. O'Brien, Albert Thomas Associate Professor of Political Science, Rice University *
The data generated every time legislators do one of their core activities—speaking— is a rich resource for understanding democratic linkages. This volume combines theoretical and methodological insights with case studies from a wide range of contexts around the world, making it essential to advancing research on how democratic institutions function. * Matthew S. Shugart, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of California, Davis *
Harmonized analysis for 32 parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential democracies around the world offers a major expansion to knowledge about legislator speech-making. Particularly important is the assessment of conditions in which there is a gap in speech between men and women legislators, suggesting many avenues for future research. * Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson, Professor of Political Science, Texas A&M University *
The editors have assembled the best authors in the field to offer a collection not only on recent theories of legislative debates, but also on the best methods to analyse them. With a mixture of overview, analysis, and over thirty case studies from legislative debates from around the world, this volume makes an outstanding contribution to the literature and is a must-read for any scholar of legislative studies. * Kenneth Benoit, Professor of Computational Social Science, The London School of Economics and Political Science *
Politicians do like to talk but as this volume demonstrates, parliamentary speech is more than sound and fury. Applying contemporary text analysis tools, the contributors analyze speech activity in legislative assemblies from Iceland to Malawi. Audacious in scope and impressive in execution, this is an unrivalled contribution to its field. * Kaare Strøm, Distinguished Professor, University of California, San Diego *
The Politics of Legislative Debates not only makes a significant contribution on its own, but also complements other handbooks that scholars in parliamentary and legislative studies have been treated with in recent years. * Caroline Bhattacharya, Austrian Journal of Political Science *
ISBN: 9780198849063
Dimensions: 241mm x 160mm x 50mm
Weight: 1446g
892 pages