ABSTRACT
In addition to the internal and external oversight tools and mechanisms used by the legislature to hold the executive to account, considered in chapters 3 and 4, there are facilitating conditions that have an impact on the capacity and quality of legislative oversight. Stapenhurst (2011) divides these conditions into two groups: contextual factors (level of democracy, social legitimacy, party cohesion, form of government), which shape executivelegislative relations more generally and supporting factors (research capacity, access to information), which help strengthen the legislative oversight function.1 We consider each in turn.
