ABSTRACT
This chapter summarises the main results and makes a final argument for the use of congressional theories in the absence of a theoretical framework on committees’ roles and purposes. Although researchers should always be wary about the origin of the theories, we can use the outlier versus non-outlier distinction from the congressional framework to distinguish broad approaches. These can serve as valuable starting points to study institutional arrangements and to open the ‘black box’ of PPGs’ working procedures in committees and committee structures. Although no single deduced rationale can capture all analysed aspects, in particular the informational and ‘keeping tabs’ perspective were able to capture the processes. The chapter also provides suggestions for future research.
