(Re)assessing Parliamentary Policy Impact
The Case of the Australian Senate
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6234833 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Meg Russell (0000-0003-1913-129X, University College London), Meghan Benton (University College London) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 45 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 159-174 |
| Publication date | 2010-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Australian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1036-1146 • E-ISSN: 1363-030X |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10361141003736117 |
| OpenAlex | W2084009381 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 12 |
A recent article in this Journal suggested that assumptions about the legislative influence of the Australian Senate may overstate its de facto power. Stanley Bach indicated that compromise with the Senate was relatively rare, and pointed out that most successful Senate amendments were government amendments. This paper provides an alternative view. We suggest that legislative influence is more subtle than Bach acknowledged, and that it is necessary to dig deeper in the data to fully understand the Senate's role. We therefore supplement his analysis in two ways: (1) through tracking the ultimate outcome of government defeats in the Senate; and (2) through analysis of two case study bills. We find that in confrontations with government the Senate ‘wins’ the great majority of the time. This shapes government behaviour in the chamber, such that many government amendments actually respond to non-government concerns. The most important element of Senate influence is therefore ‘soft power’– exercised through negotiation – backed up only in extremis by the ‘hard power’ of government defeat. This holds important lessons for the study of legislative influence more broadly, as well as demonstrating the true power of the Australian Senate
Compromise · De facto · Divided government · Element (criminal law · Government (linguistics · Law and economics · Legislature · Negotiation · Political science · Power (physics · Sociology · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration
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| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,23 |
| Citation span | 2013 - 2022 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |