Consitutional Law - Parliamentary Sovereingty - Can Parliament Bind Its Successors?

Explaining Parliamentary Party Cohesion : Can Psychology Help ?

Parliaments in most established democracies are characterised by high levels of political party cohesion in voting. Political scientists tend to explain this behaviour in terms of individual incentives, implicitly or explicitly applying a logic of rational choice. Cohesion is linked to discipline, and the powers available to party whips: for example control over resources, reselection opportuni...

The Mughal Empire and Its Successors*

Political history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 The imperial structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310 The social and economic framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 313 High culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 State and religion . ...

How can an act of parliament cure cancer?

Accidental Politicians: How Randomly Selected Legislators Can Improve Parliament Efficiency

We study a prototypical model of a Parliament with two Parties or two Political Coalitions and we show how the introduction of a variable percentage of randomly selected independent legislators can increase the global efficiency of a Legislature, in terms of both the number of laws passed and the average social welfare obtained. We also analytically find an ”efficiency golden rule” which allows...

How Can the Scottish Parliament Be Improved as a Legislature?

There will be a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. The prospect of further constitutional change might prompt us to reconsider the role and influence of the Scottish Parliament as a legislature. Fourteen years of devolution has also given us plenty of experience on which to make our assessment of the limitations of the new Scottish political system. Yet, the title of this article also...