Teaching Comparative Government

Legislatures in liberal democracies found a way to preserve voting rights of legislators a hundred years ago. It's probably time for something new. An obscure British parliamentary rule was broken. Here’s why it’s a big deal. Last week in the U.K.’s House of Commons, the governing party appeared to cast aside its “pairing rule,” a chamber practice that has been used to preserve voting rights of absent Members of Parliament (MPs) — including MPs out on maternity leave. This caused a huge outcry, with the minister for the Cabinet Office forced to respond to an urgent question in the House of Commons this week, promising that such errors would not be repeated. But the ensuing controversy also highlights the limitations of relying on informal legislative practices in increasingly diverse parliamentary bodies. This is how legislative pairing works Pairing is an informal arrangement between two legislative parties when an MP is sick, on parental leave, or otherwise not present to vote. ...

PM May's plans for Brexit survived on a vote in Commons because several Labour MPs voted for her bill. The future looks rocky. Britain’s May narrowly avoids defeat in parliament on EU trade laws British Prime Minister Theresa May narrowly avoided a defeat in parliament at the hands of pro-EU lawmakers from her own party on Tuesday, fending off a rebellion that had threatened to deepen a crisis over her Brexit strategy. Parliament voted 307 to 301 against an amendment to trade legislation [that]… was seen as a test of May’s ability to deliver a smooth British exit from the European Union and keep her job… One Conservative lawmaker present told Reuters that the party whips whose job it is to enforce discipline, desperate to win the vote, had threatened to call a confidence vote in May if she lost, a move that could bring down the government… May is expected to face many more challenges to her strategy after a summer break as she works her way through a mountain of Brexit-related l...

I doubt anyone in the last century would have predicted that the PRI in Mexico would fall to near irrelevance so quickly. In congress that seems to have happened. Mexico’s motley new congress THE change brought by Andrés Manuel López Obrador to Mexico’s congress is as startling as his election to the presidency on July 1st. His coalition, Juntos haremos historia (together we will make history), is expected to have three-fifths of seats in the lower house and the senate (see chart)…. The ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) will become the fifth-biggest party in the 500-member lower house. The centre-right National Action Party (PAN), with 92 seats, will be the main opposition. Mr López Obrador’s legislative forces are a motley group of activists, celebrities and professional politicians. The heart of the coalition is his four-year-old Morena party. It also includes the anti-capitalist Workers’ Party (PT) and the conservative Social Encounter Party (PES), which has evangelical...

Nigeria has a budget (appropriations bill) for the current year. Buhari signs 2018 budget President Muhammadu Buhari has signed the 2018 appropriation bill containing the year’s federal spending details as approved by the National Assembly… Buhari signs the budget The total budget is N9.1 trillion, up from the N8.6 trillion estimates he submitted to the Assembly on November 7, 2017. The two chambers of the National Assembly passed the budget on May 16, six months after it was presented by the president… Teaching Comparative blog entries are indexed. Use the search box to look for country names or concept labels attached to each entry. Just The Facts! 2nd edition is a concise guide to concepts, terminology, and examples that will appear on May's exam. Just The Facts! is available. Order HERE . Amazon's customers gave this book a 5-star rating.

Have you heard about "free votes?" Labour has decided to give MPs a free vote on a proposed new runway at London's Heathrow airport. And "Tory MPs will be whipped to vote in favour of the new runway…" What does that mean? Labour giving MPs free vote on Heathrow runway plan Labour will not ask its MPs to vote against Heathrow expansion even though its leadership is opposed to a new runway, a senior figure has confirmed. The party is giving its MPs a free vote when the issue is decided on Monday, meaning shadow ministers will not be disciplined for supporting the move. Its transport spokesman Andy McDonald said the runway did not meet Labour's economic and environmental tests. But he said MPs had "strong" personal views and Labour had to be "pragmatic". Scores of Labour MPs are expected to back the government when Parliament votes on whether to give the go ahead for detailed planning on a third runway at the UK's largest airport. With t...

At least, Brexit is more complicated than it was in the referendum. Facing Defeat on Brexit, May Gives Ground to U.K.’s Parliament Britain’s prime minister, Theresa May, on Tuesday promised greater control for Parliament over withdrawal from the European Union, after a threatened rebellion by lawmakers forced her into a new and potentially significant retreat in the country’s troubled exit from the bloc. Brexit protesters in London The day began on an ominous note with the resignation of one of Mrs. May’s ministers over her plans for withdrawal, known as Brexit, and got steadily worse for the prime minister when some of her rebel lawmakers combined with opposition parties, posing the threat of a damaging defeat. The vote concerned an amendment that had been added by the House of Lords to Mrs. May’s main Brexit legislation. The amendment would have given lawmakers more control over the process… Mrs. May had appealed to lawmakers not to support the amendment, arguing that it would weak...

Who knew how important the mace was? ( Check out the British version .) Senate resumes plenary with replacement mace The Senate has resumed plenary about an hour after thugs stole its symbol of authority, the mace. The lawmakers appear to have secured a replacement mace which is being used for the plenary. The theft The thugs, who stormed the Senate chamber on Wednesday morning, are believed to have been led by a suspended lawmaker Ovie Omo-Agege… After the thugs left, the Senate went into an executive session after which it announced it was starting plenary. The plenary is being presided by Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu. Sabi Abdullahi, the senate spokesperson, in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES said “The Senate has mandated the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Idris Kpotum Ibrahim and Director General of the State Security Services (SSS), Mallam Lawan Daura, to retrieve the mace stolen by the hoodlums within 24 hours.” “At the moment, some House of Representives mem...