Strengthening Legislatures: Some Lessons from the Pacific Region

Abstract

There is universal agreement among development stakeholders that parliaments play a crucial role in enhancing good governance, economic growth, and development as well as the general quality of democracy. It follows from this fact that several international organizations (IOs) have embarked in activities that seek to strengthen legislative capacity. However, we note that there is a lack of consensus-among IOs and in key literature-on the right approach to strengthen parliaments. Consequently, IOs have been offering varying legislative-strengthening exercises that have inevitably produced significantly different and, at times, disappointing outcomes. Using a multicase study design that includes five Pacific countries, we show that to attain positive and significant outcomes, legislative capacity-building initiatives need to be country specific and informed by local needs assessment. We further reassert that no amount of legislative capacity-building effort can enhance parliamentary performance in the absence of local political will.

Politicians and Professionalization in the Pacific Islands: Revisiting Self‐Regulation?

“…Reweighted incentives and stronger institutional mechanisms will, advocates argue, combat political misconduct and corruption and enhance the legitimacy of the legislature. And yet the impact of these programs in the Pacific region has been mixed at best (Kinyondo ; Kinyondo and Pelizzo ).…”

“…The problem then cannot be blamed on the absence of reform efforts but rather on the inability of these attempts to deliver more professionalized politicians (see Kinyondo ; Kinyondo and Pelizzo ). So far, much of the extant literature on governance in the Pacific Islands seeks to explain why political practice in the region persistently deviates from standard liberal/modernist norms (see Haque ; Morgan ; Reilly ; Saldanha ).…”

We are not the president’s ‘yes’ men and women: how legislative budget scrutiny improved in Uganda

“…Large donor presence may thus undermine the performance of legislatures. In addition, Kinyondo and Pelizzo (2013) found for the Pacific Region that international donors lacked consensus on the right approach to strengthen parliaments. Consequently, they came up with a variety of approaches and this led at times to disappointing outcomes.…”

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“…This sounds obvious, but it is not always done. A review of parliamentary strengthening programmes in five Pacific Island countries found that few had been informed by an assessment of local needs (Kinyondo and Pelizzo, ). In one case, training was provided in a language (English) that few members of parliament (MPs) spoke fluently.…”