The people who run parliament

Abstract

Parliaments are large organisations, crowded with myriad secretaries and staffers of many kinds who massively outnumber the elected legislators. This machine room – including the non-partisan clerks who manage the work of parliamentary committees, political staffers that support party groups, and other advisors - is largely a black spot in the literature on legislative behaviour and decision-making. Some isolated country-specific studies of their roles and activities do exist, but thus far no comparative framework exists for capturing their activities. This panel seeks to make a first step towards such a comparative agenda and invites papers on partisan and non-partisan staffers and advisors to parliaments.

Title	Details
Theorizing parliamentary staff	View Paper Details
Reminiscing the Staff: How Do Former MPs Talk About the Everyday Administration of Parliament?	View Paper Details
To be seen, or heard, but not both: the role of support services in implementing legislative public engagement in Nigeria	View Paper Details
Career patterns and staff turnover of the French administrateurs du Sénat (1950-2010) :	View Paper Details