1st Edition

Post-Communist and Post-Soviet Parliaments The Initial Decade

Edited By Philip Norton, David M. Olson Copyright 2008
    214 Pages
    by Routledge

    214 Pages
    by Routledge

    The sudden collapse of communism stimulated both the rapid emergence of fledgling democracies and scholarly attention to the post-communist transition. These newly democratized parliaments have been described as "parliaments in adolescence".

    This book identifies six parliaments which exemplify the wide range of developments in the new post-communist political systems, from the stable consolidated democracies to the less stable and more authoritarian states, within which their respective parliaments function.

    Finally the post-communist parliaments are compared with the presumptively more established west European parliaments. This book bridges the usual gap in research between the post-communist parliaments and more "normal" democratic parliaments to develop a common legislative research perspective on both new and established parliaments.

    This book was previously published as a special issue of the Journal of Legislative Studies.

    INTRODUCTION Post-Communist and Post-Soviet Legislatures: Beyond Transition  Philip Norton and David M. Olson  THE PARLIAMENTS: DEMOCRATIC POST-COMMUNIST PARLIAMENTS  1. The Parliament of the Czech Republic, 1993-2004  Lukas Linek and Zdenka Mansfeldova  2. From Minimal to Subordinate: A Final Verdict? The Hungarian Parliament, 1990–2002  Gabriella Ilonszki  3. Five Terms of the Polish Parliament, 1989–2005 Ewa Nalewajko and Wlodzimierz Wesolowski  4. Slovenia’s National Assembly, 1992–2004 Drago Zajc  THE PARLIAMENTS: AUTHORITARIAN POST-SOVIET PARLIAMENTS  5. Development of the Moldovan Parliament One Decade After Independence: Slow Going  William E. Crowther  6. The Russian Federal Assembly, 1994–2004  Thomas F. Remington   POST-COMMUNIST AND POST-SOVIET PARLIAMENTS COMPARED  7. MPs in Post-Communist and Post-Soviet Nations: A Parliamentary Elite in the Making  Gabriella Ilonszki and Michael Edinger  8. Post-Communist and Post-Soviet Parliaments: Divergent Paths from Transition David M. Olson and Philip Norton

    Biography

    Philip Norton [Lord Norton of Louth]: Professor of Government and Director of the Centre for Legislative Studies, University of Hull.

    David M. Olson: Professor Emeritus of Political Science, and Co-Director, Center for Legislative Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro; Co-Chair of Research Committee of Legislative Specialists, International Political Science Association