Political systems

Effective legislatures

How can legislatures ensure the state is really accountable to citizens, and that service delivery is efficient? Why and how should they be strengthened? Within a political system, the 'legislature' is the elected or selected body that makes laws for a state. Legislatures (sometimes called parliament, senate or congress) perform three key roles: representation of the people, passing effective legislation, and oversight of government. To fulfil these roles effectively, they must have appropriate powers, committed members and adequate resources. But many parliaments in developing countries are weak and become vehicles for 'rubber stamping' legislation. This leads to unaccountable executive powers and can leave a state 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:

Legislative functions
Parliamentary strengthening
Parliaments and PRSPs
Women in parliament
Parliaments in post-conflict and fragile environments
Useful websites

Legislative functions

To act as an effective check on the executive and the judiciary, parliaments must be actively involved in all areas of state activity and ensure that the opinions of the electorate are represented.

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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Case, W., 2011, ‘Executive Accountability in Southeast Asia: The Role of Legislatures in New Democracies and Under Electoral Authoritarianism’, Policy Studies no. 57, East-West Center, Honolulu
Does a new democracy or electoral authoritarianism better allow legislatures to check the executive? This study examines accountability and legislative power in Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia and Singapore. While legislatures are weaker under electoral authoritarian regimes than in new democracies, they define the opposition better. Opposition members try to use their limited powers to check executive abuses. However, this tends to strengthen authoritarian rule by giving it greater legitimacy.
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The following materials consider the role of parliaments in specific sectors or areas, including security, health, and budgetary oversight.

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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Budgetary oversight

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., 2007, 'Strengthening Legislative Financial Scrutiny in Developing Countries', Report prepared for the UK Department for International Development by the London School of Economics, London
How can the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) improve its work in strengthening legislative financial oversight? This study from the London School of Economics and Political Science suggests that robust oversight at the country level is crucial for effective direct budget support. DFID's projects involving legislative financial scrutiny are vulnerable to political risks and achievements are fragile. Nonetheless, where the approach is comprehensive, long-term and builds on local, broad-based support, this work can deliver substantial and cost-effective governance improvements.
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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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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, 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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Parliamentary strengthening

Because of the important roles played by effective legislatures, donors have been keen to support legislative/parliamentary strengthening programs in developing countries. But political context can determine the shape and effectiveness of these programmes, and reform can be difficult in countries where the executive does not want a strong legislature, where civil society is weak or where resources are constrained.

Arne, T. and Amundsen, I., 2010, ‘Support to Legislatures: Synthesis Study’, Evaluation Report no. 2, Norad, Oslo
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Hudson, A. and Wren, C., 2007, 'Parliamentary Strengthening in Developing Countries', Report prepared for the Department for International Development (DFID), Overseas Development Institute, London
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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GSDRC, 2008, ‘Lessons Learned on Parliamentary Strengthening’, Helpdesk Research Report, GSDRC, Birmingham
Several agencies have recently conducted stocktakes, retrospectives or reviews of their parliamentary strengthening programmes at agency-level. By far the most common lesson/recommendation relates to the necessity of understanding and adapting to the political context within which parliament is situated and undertaking good political analysis in the planning phase.
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Toolkits

Europe Aid, 2010, ‘Engaging and Supporting Parliaments Worldwide: Strategies and Methodologies for EC Action in Support to Parliaments’, Reference document no. 8, Tools and Methods Series, European Commission, Brussels
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National Democratic Institute and 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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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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GSDRC, 2008, 'Monitoring and Evaluation of Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support Programmes', Helpdesk Research Report, GSDRC, Birmingham
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) appears to be one of the most neglected components of both parliamentary strengthening and electoral support programmes. The politcal nature of such programmes presents particular challenges in formulating indicators and attributing impacts. In the case of legislative strengthening, much of the literature emphasises the importance of a baseline assessment and participation of national stakeholders to ensure programme sustainability.
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For a mapping of organisations working on parliamentary strengthening see:

GSDRC, 2008, 'Donor Activity on Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support', Helpdesk Research Report, GSDRC, Birmingham
According to a recent study from ODI, the World Bank Institute, the Parliamentary Centre (Canada), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the National Democratic Institute (NDI) are the major actors in the field of parliamentary strengthening. Parliamentary strengthening programmes typically emphasise training for parliamentarians and parliamentary staff through courses, seminars, workshops, or conferences. Empowering parliaments to exercise legislative oversight of government is a major objective.
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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 to the development of effective PRSPs and to poverty reduction.

Draman, R., 2007, '“Legislating Poverty” in Africa: What role have Parliamentarians been playing in PRSP Implementation and Policy?', Parliamentary Center and World Bank Institute
To ensure effective implementation of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), greater recognition has been given in recent years to parliamentarians' role in oversight and monitoring. This paper from the Parliamentary Centre assesses how effective parliamentary involvement in the PRSP process has been, and what impacts interventions have had on PRS implementation and policy, with a focus on the budget process. The document focuses on seven countries - Ghana, Niger, Tanzania, Malawi, Kenya, Senegal and Zambia. Across parliaments there is still a general lack of knowledge relating to PRSPS, and participation in the process has been problematic.
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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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Women in Parliament

Barriers to women’s participation in parliament include male dominated structures, lack of quotas and lack of training. Several countries have set quota targets which has allowed for advances in women’s representation.

Karam, A., 1998, 'Beyond Token Representation', in Women in Parliament: Beyond Numbers, ed. A. Karam, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, Stockholm, pp. 191 – 198
This concluding chapter from an International IDEA publication gives an overview of the socio-economic and socio-cultural obstacles to women's participation in politics and offers recommendations on how to overcome them, drawing on case studies from Russia, Egypt, Scandinavia, India, Costa Rica and South Africa.
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GSDRC, 2008, 'Quotas for Women’s Representation in Africa', Helpdesk Research Report, GSDRC, Birmingham
The success of quota systems in many African countries is largely attributed to: strong and active women’s movements; regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that have adopted gender balanced representation and set quota targets for member countries; and opportunities in post-conflict and transition societies, which allowed for advances in women’s representation. It is important to note that women’s movements have also been important in pushing for more balanced representation in regional bodies as well as in peace negotiations and new constitutions.
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GSDRC, 2008, 'Gender Equality in Parliamentary Strengthening and Electoral Support:', Helpdesk Research Report, GSDRC, Birmingham
Whilst many countries around the world have started to adopt measures to help women enter politics and national legislatures, there has been insufficient attention paid to how they can make a difference once they enter parliament. Quotas, for example, can contribute to an increase in the number of women in parliament, but it is the interaction of quota systems with other factors in a particular country, such as the type of electoral system, the legal environment, and the nature of women’s movements, that is key.
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Parliaments in post-conflict and fragile environments

The resources below discuss how to enhance Parliaments’ roles in peacebuilding and democratic governance and consider effective ways to support parliaments in post-conflict and fragile states.

Dutta, N., et.al., 2007, 'Strengthening Legislatures for Conflict Management in Fragile States', Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton
What role does the legislature play in conflict management in fragile states? How can its role be strengthened? This study from Princeton University, UNDP and USAID assesses the situation in Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Uganda. It argues that the legislature can use its representative and deliberative capacities to become an effective institution for conflict management. Legislative strengthening should focus on three areas: building compromises within the legislature; overcoming executive-legislature imbalance; and strengthening linkages between constituents and the legislature through effective communication and representation.
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UNDP, 2007, 'Parliaments, Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Guidelines for the International Community', UNDP, New York
What is the role of parliaments in peacebuilding and crisis management? How can the international community best support them? These guidelines from the United Nations Development Programme suggest that assistance by external actors underestimates the productive role that parliamentary institutions can play. The formulation of peacebuilding strategies and power-sharing arrangements should consider impacts on democratic governance development. Electoral assistance must be backed by investments in long-term parliamentary strengthening in order to achieve human development and to avoid public disillusionment with the democratic process.
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Useful websites

AGORA is a reference and knowledge hub for parliamentary development
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.
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA)
SADC Parliamentary Forum is chartered to bring about convergence of economic, political, and social values in the SADC and help create the appropriate environment for deeper regional cooperation through popular participation.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union aims to be a focal point for world-wide parliamentary dialogue and works for peace and co-operation among peoples and for the firm establishment of representative democracy.