Committees

Abstract

Recent studies in the comparative legislative studies literature have examined the evolution of different types of legislative committees in terms of their general strength and autonomy (André, Depauw and Martin 2016; Martin, 2011; Mickler 2017; Zubek, 2015 etc.). The empirical validation of the theoretical claims that are advanced in this literature relies on quantitative index-based approaches that have become popular since the publication of Mattson and Strom’s (1995) seminal work on parliamentary committees. However, these studies, as well as others, overlooked the crucial distinction between committee's strength on the respective dimensions of legislation and oversight. The aim of the panel is to discuss this major lacuna since committees may have very different degrees of strength and autonomy in fulfilling these two principal functions: in some cases, committees may be either weak (Ireland) or strong (Germany) on both of these dimensions while in other cases they can be strong on one but weak on the other (Israel, Hungary). The panel brings together comparative and single-country cases that explicitly address a) issues of measuring committee strength on the two key dimensions of legislation and oversight; b) the historical development of committees along these dimensions; and c) theoretical perspectives on cross-national and within-case variation of committee strength.