Judge, D and Leston Bandeira Gilbert, C orcid.org/0000-0002-6131-4607 (2021) Why it matters to keep asking why legislatures matter. The Journal of Legislative Studies, 27 (2). pp. 155-184. ISSN 1357-2334
Abstract
Legislative scholars are very good at explaining and analysing what legislatures do and how they do it. But the why question – why legislatures do what they do and why they matter – is often taken for granted or not raised at all. Our objective in this paper is to focus attention back onto the ‘why’ question and to explore the grounds upon which legislative scholars, and others, might be encouraged to reconsider this basic question. In seeking to coax a reconsideration of the importance of legislatures, we direct attention towards processes of legitimation and why legislatures are invested in such processes across the world in the modern era. If, as we argue, an answer to the question of why legislatures matter is to be grounded in processes of legitimation, then deficiencies in those processes or the questionability of those processes also expose the contingent nature of such an answer.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited. This is an author produced version of an article published in The Journal of Legislative Studies. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Legitimation, legislatures, linkage, accountability, symbolism |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 04 Jan 2021 10:33 |
Last Modified: | 24 Jul 2022 00:13 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Routledge |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/13572334.2020.1866836 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:169285 |