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The legislature (parliament)This is the body that makes the laws of a country. The word "legislature" actually means body that proposes laws; in fact in most countries the laws passed by the legislature must be signed by the head of state . But the legislature has many other functions. In a parliamentary system it has the power to remove the government by a vote of no confidence. In some systems the legislature has the power to remove individual ministers. The legislature in all types of government system has the important function of discussing the work of the government, and usually will discuss some important issues in committees to which it has the power to summon ministers, and other people for questioning. Another important function is that of approving government expenditure: it is a fundamental democratic principle that no money should be spent and no taxes raised without the approval of the legislature. Some legislatures have more than one house. The second one may contain people who are not elected, but hold their office through some other route. That house may also have certain specific roles, such as protecting the interests of the lower level governments in a federal system . The powers of second houses vary a lot. Most or all of the members of the main house of a legislature are usually elected by the people. There are various electoral systems - that is ways in which the votes of the electorate are translated into the numbers of seats in the house. In most countries political parties play an important part in identifying candidates for legislatures. If Nepal becomes a federation, there will be legislatures at the level of the states, regions (or the name by which the main level of government below the national level is called). A subject that has been discussed in many countries recently is: "How can members of the legislature be held accountable, especially to their electorates?" More material will be available on this topic soon. Materials on legislatures This section will be expanded with material specifically for the Nepal debate. There are some useful general papers from the UNDP Governance programme, including: A Concept Paper on Legislatures and Good Governance Lawmaking and Stages of Legislative Procedure Legislative Chambers: Unicameral or Bicameral? Internal Organization of the Legislative Branch Useful Links Nepal Parliament UK Parliament US Congress - House of Representatives and Senate India Parliament Scottish Parliament (parliament of a lower level government) | ||||||||||||||||
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