A new publication entitled “The Iberian Legislatures in Comparative Perspective” has been published by Routledge and edited by Jorge M. Fernandes and Cristina Leston-Bandeira.
The book analyses the development of the legislatures in the Iberian countries over the past 40 years, since democracy was introduced, to comparatively understand their role in these political systems and in sustaining their democratic systems.
Sharing many historical developments and institutional characteristics, Spain and Portugal also present crucial differences, notably Spain’s pure parliamentary system, a King as Head of State and a quasi-federal structure, and Portugal’s semi-presidential democracy. Starting with a historical and institutional contextualization of these two legislatures, the book examines the most important organizational and behavioural features of legislative life in Iberian legislatures in a comparative perspective. It also shows how new legislatures develop resilience capacity to support lasting democratic systems as fully fledged institutionalized bodies.
This publication will be of key interest to scholars and students of Spain and Portugal, legislative politics and parliamentarianism, and more broadly to European politics and comparative politics, journalists and practitioners.
It contains an article written by Cláudia Ribeiro, Sónia Rodrigues – researchers in the Rules for Legislative Drafting in Portuguese Speaking Countries/Regions Research Project – and Mercedes Araújo entitled “The Legislative Role of Iberian Legislatures”.
More information here.