Short description:

This handbook brings together an international, multidisciplinary group of contributors providing a systematic and comprehensive analysis of parliamentary administrations.

Long description:

The Routledge Handbook of Parliamentary Administrations brings together an international, multidisciplinary group of contributors providing a systematic and comprehensive analysis of parliamentary administrations.

Including chapters on the administrations of national parliaments in every member state of the European Union, in most of the EU candidate countries and in key liberal democracies around the world, this book represents a uniquely broad-ranging resource. Each national system is treated in a consistent manner, with authors providing relevant facts, figures and critical analysis according to a common framework. Additionally, it provides coverage of transnational parliamentary administrations in different regions around the globe and includes a number of cross-cutting chapters, addressing key issues of relevance for a better understanding of parliamentary administrations such as the potential for politicisation, professionalisation, digitalisation or Europeanisation with the comparative analysis of different national experiences. This handbook will enable readers to better comprehend the role and influence of parliamentary administrations and in doing so will enhance our understanding of their importance for the effective functioning of representative democracy more generally.

The Routledge Handbook of Parliamentary Administrations constitutes a unique tool and prime reference for any researcher, scholar or practitioner working in the area of parliamentary and legislative studies, governance, democracy, public policy and administration, as well as more widely to European studies, general political science and comparative politics.

Chapters 1, 2 and 4 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

"Parliamentary administrations assure that legislatures? formal authority translates into de facto power. The editors provide unique insights on parliamentary administrations worldwide. Historical trajectories, institutional capabilities and current challenges are systematically compared. An overdue Public Administration complement to Parliamentary Studies."

Michael W. Bauer, European University Institute, Florence, Italy.

"A major contribution to an overlooked, but key element of the political system. This volume breaks new ground in the range of questions it addresses and the systematic analysis it undertakes. An impressive feature is that it extends beyond the ?usual suspects? in making its selection of cases."

Hussein Kassim, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom.

"This handbook highlights the central importance of administrative resources within democratic legislatures through a broad array of case studies and a careful selection of comparative thematic chapters. The volume provides a new and invaluable resource for comparative research on the quality, capacity and evolution of administrative organization in legislatures."

Amie Kreppel, Professor and Jean Monnet Chair, University of Florida, USA.

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction: A Global Perspective on the Role of Parliamentary Administrations  PART 1: Cross-cutting Analyses of Parliamentary Administrations  2. A Distinct Role for Parliamentary Administrations in Presidential and Parliamentary Systems?  3. The Internal Administrative Structure and the Relationship with the Speaker  4. The Administrative Structure of Bicameral Parliaments  5. The Europeanization of Parliamentary Administrations  6. Parliamentary Diplomacy  7. Parliamentary Administration Facing the Digital Challenge  8. Parliamentary Administrations and the Provision of Scientific Expertise  PART 2: Administrations of National Parliaments  2.1 In the EU  9. Austria  10. Belgium  11. Bulgaria  12. Croatia  13. Cyprus  14. Czechia  15. Denmark  16. Estonia  17. Finland  18. France  19. Germany  20. Greece  21. Hungary  22. Ireland  23. Italy  24. Latvia  25. Lithuania  26. Luxembourg  27. Malta  28. Netherlands  29. Poland  30. Portugal  31. Romania  32. Slovakia  33. Slovenia  34. Spain  35. Sweden  2.2 In The Wider Europe  36. Albania  37. Bosnia and Herzegovina  38. Iceland  39. Montenegro  40. North Macedonia  41. Norway  42. Serbia  43. Switzerland  44. Turkey  45. United Kingdom  2.3 Worldwide  46. Argentina  47. Australia  48. Brazil  49. Canada  50. India  51. Israel  52. Japan  53. Korea  54. Mexico  55. South Africa  56. Tunisia  57. United States  PART 3: The Transnational Dimension of Parliamentary Administration  58. European Parliament  59. Global and Regional Perspectives on Transnational Parliamentary Administrations