Parliament : a Question of Management / V. M. Barrett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barrett, Val, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Australia. Parliament.

Australia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 326 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Canberra, ACT, Australia : Australian National University, [2022]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

For centuries scholars and practitioners have studied parliament and its potential reform from an institutional perspective. Until now, few authors have addressed in depth the internal relationships among parliamentary actors, their competing beliefs and their influence on parliament's effectiveness. Parliament is overwhelmingly an agonistic institution, and competition for status, resources, influence and control has pervaded its administration and impeded reform. Parliaments appear to struggle with the concept of institutional management. The doctrine of exclusive cognisance or sole jurisdiction implies that parliament, and only parliament, should retain control of its internal business and processes. But why is parliament considered to be unique among other public institutions, and why do parliaments appear to resist or even defy attempts to manage them more effectively? At a time when the public is losing confidence in governments, politics and political institutions, parliament's role as a broker of ideas and a forum for deliberative policymaking is under threat. In an institution where no one has overall authority and direction, staying relevant and managing public expectations present major challenges for its members and administrators. This book examines parliamentary management in the national parliaments of Australia and the United Kingdom. Without claiming to be a 'how to' book, it attempts to provide a relatable account of how parliamentary officials and members of parliament carry out their inherently complex roles and how they might be assisted by contemporary public management approaches.

Contents:

Intro

Abbreviations

List of boxes

Box 4.1 The Mills affair

Box 7.1 A voice for parliament or a danger to democracy?

Box 7.2 A Commons coup or merely advice?

List of tables

Table 3.1 Australian Parliament: Key structural proposals, 1910-2004

Table 4.1 Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee: The performance of the Department of Parliamentary Services-Background and interim findings

Table 4.2 Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee: The performance of the Department of Parliamentary Services-Final report

Table 4.3 Further inquiries into DPS's performance

Table 4.4 Relevant observations from Baxter (2015): Australian Parliament

Table 4.5 Relevant evidence taken by HOCGC, UK Parliament

Table 4.6 Factors influencing management effectiveness in the two parliaments

Table 5.1 Overview of governance, financial and oversight arrangements in the UK Parliament

Table 5.2 Overview of governance, financial and oversight arrangements in the Australian Parliament

Table 6.1 Strategic planning and reporting in the UK Parliament

Table 6.2 Strategic planning and reporting in the Australian Parliamentary Service

Table 6.3 Strategic planning and reporting in the Australian parliamentary departments

Table 6.4 Official scrutiny mechanisms in the UK Parliament and the Australian Parliament

Table 7.1 An illustration of types of procedural reforms in the Australian and UK parliaments

Table 7.2 Examples of public engagement activities in each parliament

Table 8.1 Perceived similarities and differences between parliament and other public organisations

Table 8.2 Relating public management approaches to parliament

Acknowledgements

Preface

1. An introduction

2. Calls for parliamentary reform: A brief review.

3. The 'specialised little world' of parliamentary administration

4. Contemporary parliamentary management: How has it measured up?

5. Who is responsible for governing parliament?

6. The challenges of managing in the parliamentary environment

7. Guarding the institution: The case for procedural and cultural reform

8. A public management approach to parliamentary administration

Epilogue

Bibliography.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 cc https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781760465469

1760465461

OCLC:

1427663478