Political systems

Effective legislatures

Within a political system, the 'legislature' is the elected or selected body that makes laws for a state. Legislatures have various names including parliament, senate or congress. In a democratic system, parliaments have three key roles: representation of the people, passing effective legislation and oversight of government. To fulfil these roles adequately, parliament must have appropriate powers, committed members and adequate resources. Many parliaments are weak and just 'rubber stamp' legislation. This means that government is unaccountable and more susceptible to autocracy and corruption.

The resources below focus on how to create a functioning legislature which provides an effective bridge between the executive and the people.

Page contents:

Where is a good place to start?

Department for International Development, 2004, 'Helping Parliaments and Legislative Assemblies to Work for the Poor', DFID, London
How can legislatures and parliaments be better at helping development and poverty reduction? How can they improve the way they perform their key constitutional roles? These guidelines from the Department for International Development are part of an international effort to address these issues. The guidelines consider the parliamentary concept, planning reform, possible actions and impact assessment.
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Johnson, J. K. and Nakamura, R. T, 1999, 'A Concept Paper on Legislatures and Good Governance', UNDP paper, New York
This paper prepared for the UNDP addresses the broad conceptual issues of the role of legislatures in good governance. It begins with a description of legislatures and legislative behaviour, and then provides specific information regarding legislative development. Sections two and three explain what legislatures do, how they do it, some ways in which they vary, and how structure and party systems may influence legislative behaviour. Section four briefly describes problems commonly faced by legislatures around the world. Sections five and six explain what legislative development is, show the kinds of organisations involved, and provide examples of legislative development activities.
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Legislative functions

If a parliament just exists to pass legislation, it is failing to fulfill its oversight and accountability functions. To act as an effective check on the executive and the judiciary, parliaments must be actively involved in all areas of state activity to ensure that the opinions of the electorate are represented.

Born, H., Fluri, P. and Johnson, A., 2003, 'Parliamentary Oversight of the Security Sector: Principles, Mechanisms and Practices', Inter-Parliamentary Union and Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces
Why is parliamentary oversight of the security sector necessary? What is the role of parliament and how is it best performed? This handbook by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF) provides a comprehensive picture of current security issues and deals exhaustively with all aspects of parliamentary oversight of the security sector.
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Mataure, M., 2003, ‘Parliamentary Functions and Reforms and their Application in Promoting Health Equity in Southern Africa’, Discussion Paper no. 16, The Network on Equity in Health in Southern Africa, Harare
Increasing public awareness of rights in Southern African countries has placed responsibility on parliaments to be more effective. How have they gone about reforming? This paper by the Training and Research Support Centre in Harare highlights the effectiveness of the Committee system in strengthening the parliamentary role in the health sector. In particular the committee system has provided a vehicle for involving stakeholders in parliamentary oversight, legislative and representational roles and in drawing technical and financial resources to support more work by parliament.
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A key role of legislatures is oversight of the budget process. Parliaments should ensure that budgets are fiscally sound, appropriate and are well implemented.

Wehner, J., 2004, 'Back from the Sidelines? Redefining the Contribution of Legislatures to the Budget Cycle', World Bank Institute, Washington D.C.
Following a period of decline in influence, many legislatures are starting to reclaim a more active role in the budget process. What is the effect of legislative action on budget outcomes? How can differences across countries be explained? This paper published by the World Bank Institute surveys the changing landscape of legislative budgeting. It argues there is a need to establish supportive institutional mechanisms to reconcile legislative activism with fiscal prudence, and tailor these mechanisms to different national circumstances.
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Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2000, 'Key Issues and Guidelines,' paper from seminar on Parliament and the Budgetary Process, Including From a Gender Perspective, 22nd -24th May 2000, Nairobi
An integral part of a democracy is transparency in a country’s spending. As such the budget is regarded as the most important policy statement made by the Executive, reflecting the core values underlying national policy. Should Parliament therefore be more involved in the process of formulating the budget? Should MPs be more proactive in influencing budget procedures and ensuring they are gender-balanced? These key issues emerged at a seminar organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in May 2000 and are discussed in this paper.
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Parliaments and PRSPs

The involvement of developing country parliaments in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process has generally been weak. The following resources explore how to improve their contribution tothe development of effective PRSPs.

Hubli, S., and Mandaville, A. P., 2004, 'Parliaments and the PRSP Process', WBI Working Paper, Series on Contemporary Issues in Parliamentary Development, World Bank, Washington D.C.
How can parliaments in poor countries strengthen the PRSP process? How can donors help integrate parliaments into poverty reduction? This paper by the World Bank Institute provides a range of options to address these issues, identifying activities that will strengthen the impact and sustainability of recipient countries’ PRSPs and ensure political legitimacy and national ownership of the process.
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Eberlei, W. and Henn, H., 2003, 'Parliaments in Sub-Saharan Africa: Actors in Poverty Reduction?', GTZ, Eschborn
How have Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) processes affected the status of parliaments in national policy making? This report published by GTZ investigates the role played by parliaments during PRS implementation in 28 African states. Donors are recommended to address the legal and political conditions of the legislatures, the functional capacity of parliaments, their interaction with other actors, and the international donor policy environment.
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Legislative strengthening

This is often referred to as parliamentary strengthening. Because of the important roles played by effective legislatures, donors have been keen to support parliamentary strengthening programs in developing countries. These are inherently political processes and so can be difficult to implement in countries where the executive does not want a strong legislature, civil society is weak or resources are constrained.

There are lots of toolkits, guidance notes and papers written on this topic - please refer to the links section of this page to access more material on legislative development.

Hudson, A. and Wren, C., 2007, 'Parliamentary Strengthening in Developing Countries', Overseas Development Institute, London, Report prepared for the Department for International Development (DFID)
How can parliaments perform more effectively? Whilst governance programmes focus primarily on the executive and civil society, the potential of parliaments to foster capable, accountable and responsive governance is increasingly recognised. This report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) aims to help the Department for International Development (DFID) make informed decisions about contributing to parliamentary strengthening in developing countries. Parliamentary strengthening work should be more long-term and demand-driven. It should address the causes of poor performance, be context-aware, involve recipients and include systematic evaluation.
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Department for International Development, United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank Institute, 2007, 'Donor Consultation on Parliamentary Development and Financial Accountability' Final report from a joint donor meeting on Parliamentary Development, 21st and 22nd May, Brussels
What lessons can be learned from existing parliamentary development programmes? How can the role of parliaments in financial governance be strengthened in developing countries? This paper from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank Institute (WBI) reports on a two day consultation on donor evaluations, normative frameworks and measures of progress for parliamentary development.
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US Agency for International Development, 2001, 'Handbook on Legislative Strengthening,' Office of Democracy and Governance, USAID, Washington, D.C.
This Handbook from the Office of Democracy and Governance in USAID explores the question of legislative strengthening drawing on the worldwide experience of USAID missions. It points out that, despite the importance of legislatures in good democratic governance, they tend to be weak in comparison with the executive branch. Yet, they must function to reinforce democracy, practice effective oversight and make public policies successful. If the voices of those affected by the government policy are not heard in the policy-making process, those policies will not achieve the greatest effectiveness. To that end, the Handbook proposes a strategic framework for the design of programmes on strengthening legislatures.
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Donor Consultation on Parliamentary Development and Financial Accountability - Final Report
What lessons can be learned from existing parliamentary development programmes? How can the role of parliaments in financial governance be strengthened in developing countries? This paper from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank Institute (WBI) reports on a two day consultation on donor evaluations, normative frameworks and measures of progress for parliamentary development.
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United Nations Development Programme, 2003, 'Parliamentary Development', Practice Note, UNDP, New York
Recognising that democracy does not automatically lead to human development, what services can donors provide to promote democratic governance? Prepared by the Institutional Development Group, Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) of UNDP, this practice note establishes a policy framework for UNDP’s parliamentary development services. Future efforts must take into account the interdependence of parliaments and the electoral processes that give representative institutions their legitimacy.
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National Democratic Institute / UNDP, 2001, 'Guidebook on Strengthening the Representative Capacity of Legislatures', background paper for a UNDP seminar on Strengthening the Legislature - Challenges and Techniques, 22nd – 24th October, Brussels
How can legislatures work for the people? This paper by National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) is a practical guide to strengthening the representative capacity of legislatures in emerging democracies. It takes a process-oriented approach to representation and assesses the capacity of representatives to engage constituents, the capacity of constituents to engage their representatives and the legal and political framework within which this engagement takes place. It argues that interaction and balance among these three components is all-important.
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Case studies

Stapenhurst, R., 2004, 'Parliamentary Strengthening: The Case of Ghana', Capacity Enhancement Brief, World Bank Institute, Washington D.C. 
How can Parliamentary governance be strengthened in developing countries? What can be done to build the capacity and understanding of MPs on governance and economic reform? This brief from the World Bank Institute (WBI) examines and draws lessons from their multiyear parliamentary capacity building programme in Ghana.
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Santiso, C. and Belgrano, G., 2004, 'Politics of Budgeting in Peru: Legislative Budget Oversight and Public Financial Accountability in Presidential Systems', SAIS working paper 01/04, John Hopkins University, Baltimore
What can be done to improve accountability and curb corruption in emerging economies? What should be the role of parliaments in the budgetary process? This study, written for a seminar arranged by the Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean, reviews the dynamics of executive-legislative relations in budget policymaking and oversight in Peru. The experiences after implementing first-generation economic reforms illustrate the limits of expeditious decision-making and the consequent need to strengthen the mechanisms of accountability.
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Additional information resources

The World Bank Institute has a Parliamentary Strengthening Programme.

UNDP has developed a wide range of resources on parliamentary development.

The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) has a broad range of programmes to strengthen emerging democratic legislatures around the world. Information and resources are available from their website.

The Parliamentary Centre is a Canadian non-profit organisation that aims to improve the effectiveness of representative assemblies around the world.

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