Parliament

The parliament (from Old French parlement 'conversation'; French parler 'talk') is the political representation of the people, which usually consists of one or two chambers or houses (unicameral or bicameral system), but can also be constituted of three chambers (tricameral system). In the sense of constitutional law, parliament is understood to be the representative body elected and legitimized by the people of the state in representative democratic states, which exercises the legislative power (legislature) and, among other things, controls the government and administration (executive). However, there are also parliaments in states with a non-democratic political system.

Every democratically constituted nation state (unitary states or federal states) has a parliament at the national or federal level. In federal states, there are also parliaments at the level of the constituent states, since these have state quality and thus a limited, shared sovereignty under state law with their own political system (executive, legislative and judicial).

In a figurative and broader sense, the term is also used to describe other political assemblies. However, these assemblies do not represent representations of the people that are directly legitimated by the people or only to a limited extent:

• z. e.g. the European Parliament of the European Union (only a limited democratic legitimacy, since no uniform, definable state people as a basis of legitimacy and no electoral equality, absence of the typical opposition between government and opposition factions, as well as no possession of the full legislative competence and no direct right of initiative)
• the Assemblies of Delegates of the member states of international organisations (e.g. the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE or the General Assembly of the United Nations).

In Germany, France, the Netherlands, Austria and other states, on the other hand, the representative bodies of the inhabitants of territorial authorities (without their own statehood) are, according to prevailing opinion and state practice, not parliaments with legislative powers in the sense of state law. In Germany, these include the organs of the municipalities (e.g. municipal council) as well as the bodies acting for districts and other public corporations belonging to the indirect state administration. They are part of the executive there, since the municipalities as a whole are, according to the prevailing view of constitutional law, merely self-governing bodies within the executive of the Land.

Structure, tasks and functioning of parliaments

Structure

In a democracy, the representatives of a parliament are determined by elections; in other systems of government, appointments also take place.

In democratic states, the parliament exercises not only the right to legislate but also the right to budget and to control the government. Members of parliament have the right to information and, if necessary, to a motion of censure against the government and individual ministers. The regulations on this are laid down in the constitution of the respective state and in the parliamentary rules of procedure.

About 30 to 40 percent of the world's parliaments consist of two chambers; the members of the smaller chambers are often not directly elected, but delegated by the member states. Important bodies are the speaker and deputy speaker of parliament, the chairmen of the parliamentary parties and the topic-related committees in which the bills are prepared.

With regard to the mode of operation, a distinction is made between so-called working and speaking parliaments:

• In a speech parliament (the British House of Commons is typical of this), all political issues are discussed in debates and mainly in plenary,
• whereas in a working parliament (e.g., the U.S. Congress) much of the work takes place in parliamentary committees,
• In most states, parliament is a hybrid of these two types.
• Independently of these structures, lobbying (often seen as questionable) also plays a role in parliamentary work, which (viewed more positively) can also be seen as cooperation with associations, churches, trade unions or other professional bodies.
• In many countries, the final deliberation of a bill is preceded by the possibility of a semi-public consultation, where political and other large organisations or associations can submit their comments and suggestions for improvement. In Switzerland, this process is called consultation.

The delegates' assemblies of parliamentary assemblies are sometimes also referred to as parliaments in the broader sense. In many cases, party congresses also have the function of a "party parliament", although their delegates are not always elected, but can also be appointed or nominated.

Parliaments whose members only work on a voluntary or part-time basis are known as after-work parliaments.

Functions

• Legislative function: One of the main functions of parliaments is the enactment of laws, this function falls to the parliament through the separation of powers. However, it is not necessary in a democracy for parliament to exercise the legislative function of separation of powers, rather it has become a tradition in democracies.
• Electoral or creative function: Depending on the respective state and its state structure, parliaments elect persons such as the president of parliament, high judges or, in parliamentary systems of government, the head of government.
• Control function: Parliaments often have the task of controlling the executive. For this purpose, they have control rights such as the right to set up a committee of inquiry or to be informed about secret service actions. The control function is usually performed mainly by the opposition. The direction, efficiency and legality of the government's actions are monitored. In order to effectively control the executive, parliament is able to vote out the head of government, for example through a constructive vote of no confidence, or to impeach, as in the case of impeachment.
• Communication function/publicity function: This can be divided into representation or articulation function (parliament should express the views held by the public) and will-forming or publicity function (parliament should inform the people).