Purpose-Built Parliament Buildings and the Institutionalisation of Parliament in Lesotho and Malawi
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6312480 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Innocent Batsani‐ncube (0000-0002-1203-3358, University of London, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 76 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 947-967 |
| Publication date | 2023-10-23 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Parliamentary Affairs (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0031-2290 • E-ISSN: 1460-2482 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/pa/gsac017 |
| OpenAlex | W4302028669 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 32 |
Largely inspired by western donor good governance agenda, the current African parliaments literature has overlooked the significance of new parliament buildings that have been constructed by China and tends to place a premium on appraising the performance of parliaments and parliamentarians in executing their legislative, representation, oversight and constituency support. While understanding how parliaments perform is important and necessary, it does not sufficiently address all the ways in which these parliaments are establishing themselves as sustainable political institutions. By disregarding the new parliament buildings, the literature potentially undermines prospects of a wider understanding of the development of African parliamentary institutions. This article leverages the Chinese government donated parliament buildings in Lesotho and Malawi to make a theoretical and comparative case for the utility of discussing the concept of African legislative institutionalisation through and in juxtaposition to, the parliamentary built environment. I find that although there are stylistic and operational differences, the new parliament buildings in Lesotho and Malawi have provided a bespoke parliamentary built environment, enabled the expansion of a cohort of public officials working on legislative business and facilitated the procedural activities of the institution
Bespoke · Government (linguistics · Institution · Institutionalisation · Legislature · Parliament · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Representation (politics · Sociology · International Development and Aid · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Public Administration · South African History and Culture
China's Aid to Africa
Legislative Power in Emerging African Democracies
Civil society, the state and democracy in Africa
From despotism to democracy
Nascent institutionalisation
The Institutionalization of the U.S. House of Representatives
Political Development and Political Decay
Ethnography of Parliament
The Institutionalisation of Post-Communist Parliaments
Power behind the Scenes
Progress and Retreat in Africa
Legislative Institutionalization
The Muddle of the ‘Westminster Model
The Architecture of Parliaments
Asking Questions
State aesthetics and state meanings
Capital Relocation in Africa
Whose Building? Tracing the Politics of the Chinese Government-Funded Parliament Building in Lesotho
Studying Congress through Time
The Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Elections in Malawi, May 2014
Chiefs, Democracy, and Popular Participation
Legislatures and Democratic Development in Africa
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |