ABSTRACT
In analyzing parliamentary committees, a critical context is parliaments themselves. A strong parliament is believed to fare better to hold the government to account. Here the relevant literature has built up over many decades and has become particularly extensive in recent years. This chapter reviews that literature as a necessary first step in examining parliamentary committees. It begins by investigating the ways in which scholars have sought to capture or measure parliamentary strength and weakness. On this basis, it presents a series of basic typologies of legislatures. However, as these typologies are rather crude, it then focuses on additional factors that are relevant in determining parliamentary strength to control the government and hold it to account for its actions. In this regard, an essential point to remember is that parliament cannot be insulated from the effects of wider social, economic and political contexts and that in a democracy the functioning of parliament is inexorably linked with the functioning of other key institutions. In this way, the chapter is able to generate a broad analytical framework focused on parliaments within which the subsequent analysis of parliamentary committees can be set.
