ABSTRACT
Parliament is a democratically elected, representative political assembly that ensures responsiveness and accountability of government to citizens by performing two vital political functions: first, by conducting free and open political debate regarding government legislation, financial records, and implementation of policies; second, by representing and championing the interests of citizens and groups in their dealings with government. The organisation, powers and effectiveness of parliaments vary widely, depending on the surrounding governance context, the relations between the state, the market and civil society, the extent of political space and support for active citizenship, and last but not least, the parliamentary culture, including motivating and constraining beliefs and practices. Members of parliament (henceforth MPs) and parliamentary staff carry out their tasks in four main lines of activity: the parliamentary chamber, committees, party caucuses and constituencies (Müller & Saalfeld 1997). In Westminster-system parliaments (the UK parliament and the parliaments of Commonwealth countries), government accountability concerns the relationship between government and opposition parties in parliament, with MPs and parliamentary committees controlled by party discipline. Whereas in Westminster-system parliaments, debates in the plenary chamber (displaying frontstage parliamentary performance) tend to assume a more prominent role than debates in parliamentary committees (carrying out current backstage parliamentary activities), the opposite situation prevails in European-model parliaments. In terms of the scope and focus of parliamentary procedures, two categories of parliaments are distinguished, namely debate parliaments and working parliaments (Gallagher, Laver & Mair 2011). To the first category, belong Westminster-type parliaments, such as the UK House of Commons, which are known to favour the parliament's close political connection with the government, and to function largely as an arena for lively adversarial debate and display of rhetorical skills. By contrast, most European parliaments can be regarded as working parliaments, with less spectacular and less confrontational interactions or statements, placing the emphasis on legislative proceedings and committees, rather than on the political struggle with the government.
