Working and Impact of Parliamentary Committees in the UK and Bangladesh: A Theoretical Analysis

Chowdhury, M Jashim Ali

Abstract

There are four leading committee theories that explain how the parliamentary committees are organised across the congressional and parliamentary systems, why they behave in particular ways and how the political parties influence their formation and work. These theories are known as the “distributive or gains from trade theory”; “information, scrutiny and expertise supply”; “coalition”; and “partisan cartel” theories. Exponents of the distributive or gains from trade theory argue that parliament members take their committee assignments seriously because it provides them with a scope to distribute development and other material benefits to their constituents and thereby enhances their chance for re-election. They can also use their committee positions as leverage to gain from trade or bargain with fellow parliament members working in other committees. The information, expertise and scrutiny theory explains the institutional issues that support a strong committee system. Proponents of this theory argue that a strong committee system helps the Parliament by supplying information and expertise about public policies and ensuring detailed scrutiny of the governmental proposals. The coalition theory considers the impact of collation governments on the committee system. The partisan cartel theory deals with the partisan influence in the committee formation process. This paper aims to test each of the four committee theories on the UK House of Commons and Bangladesh's “Westminster Parliament”. It argues that while the UK parliamentary committees have been able to overcome most of the partisan barriers and amass great institutional strength to make sense of the system in terms of all of the four theoretical strains, the operation and impact of the Bangladeshi committee system has remained hostage to a pervasive “partisan cartelisation”.

Citation

Chowdhury, M. J. A. (2022). Working and Impact of Parliamentary Committees in the UK and Bangladesh: A Theoretical Analysis. Dhaka University Law Journal, 32(2), 175-198. https://doi.org/10.3329/dulj.v32i2.57964

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Mar 13, 2022
• Publication Date: Mar 13, 2022
• Deposit Date: Nov 24, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 25, 2022
• Journal: Dhaka University Law Journal
• Print ISSN: 2790-1807
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 175-198
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/dulj.v32i2.57964
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4132107
• Publisher URL: https://www.banglajol.info/index.php/DULJ