Rationalizing parliament

About this book

Rationalizing Parliament examines how institutional arrangements in the French Constitution shape the bargaining strategies of political parties. The book investigates the decision by French cities to include in the Constitution legislative procedures aimed at "rationalizing" the policymaking role of parliament and analyzes the impact of these procedures on policy outcomes, cabinet stability, and political accountability. Drawing on diverse methodological approaches, including formal models, multivariate statistics, historical analysis, and qualitative case studies, Professor Huber contributes to general theoretical debates about the endogenous choice of institutions and the exogenous impact of institutional arrangements on political decision making. Through its use of theories developed in the American politics literature, the study reveals important similarities between legislative politics in the United States and in parliamentary systems as well as shortcomings in conventional interpretations of French institutional arrangements.