Description: Strengthening Oversight by Legislatures

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Strengthening Oversight by Legislatures

About 90 percent of the world's nearly 200 sovereign states have national legislatures or parliaments. With the spread of democracy and the rise of multiparty political systems, these bodies are playing larger roles in government. Increasingly...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Manning, Nick, Stapenhurst, Rick
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2012
Subjects:	ACCOUNTABILITY ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES ASSET DECLARATION AUTHORITY BUDGET MATTERS BUDGET PROCESS CABINET CABINETS CASE STUDIES CITIZENS CIVIL SERVICE CIVIL SOCIETY CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS COMMITTEE HEARINGS CONSENSUS CORRUPTION DEMOCRATIC DEVELOPMENT DEMOCRATIZATION DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DONOR ASSISTANCE ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT ELECTIONS EXECUTIVE BRANCH GOOD GOVERNANCE GOVERNANCE IMPROVEMENTS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY INCOME INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENTS LAWS LEGAL REFORM LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT LEGISLATORS LEGISLATURE LEGISLATURES LEGITIMACY LOCAL CONSTITUENTS MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT MINISTERS NATIONAL INTEREST NATIONAL LEGISLATURES NATIONAL POLICIES OPPOSITION PARTIES PARLIAMENTARIANS PARLIAMENTARY NETWORK PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS PARLIAMENTARY VOTE PARLIAMENTS POLICY IMPLEMENTATION POLICY RESEARCH POLITICAL FORCES POLITICAL PARTIES POVERTY REDUCTION POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY PRESIDENCY PRESIDENTS PRIME MINISTER PUBLIC HEARINGS PUBLIC POLICIES PUBLIC SECTOR PUBLIC SECTOR MANAGEMENT REDUCING POVERTY REPRESENTATIVES SUBNATIONAL LEGISLATURES URBAN AREAS OVERSIGHT ACCOUNTABILITY IN GOVERNANCE POLICY MAKING LAW MAKERS DECISION MAKING GOVERNMENTS LEADERSHIP
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2002/10/2518042/strengthening-oversight-legislatures http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11336

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Summary:	About 90 percent of the world's nearly 200 sovereign states have national legislatures or parliaments. With the spread of democracy and the rise of multiparty political systems, these bodies are playing larger roles in government. Increasingly, legislatures and their members perform four important functions of governance: o Making policies and laws. Legislatures are representative bodies for collective decisionmaking, working with the executive branch to deliberate policies and make laws. Representing citizens. Legislators give voice to individual citizens, civil society organizations, and business groups, representing the needs of local constituents in policymaking. Overseeing the executive. Legislatures oversee policy implementation by the executive branch, scrutinizing its work and holding it accountable. Recruiting future leaders. Legislatures are stepping stones and training grounds for senior positions in the executive branch. Transcending these formal functions, legislatures also provide an arena where competing political forces can debate and reach consensus on national policies and laws. This note addresses the oversight function because of its significance for government transparency and accountability, and because the Bank has initiated pilot projects to support this function.