Reflections on the Comparative Study of Subnational Legislatures

Zusammenfassung

This essay proposes a research agenda for understanding the role of subnational legislatures in federal systems by identifying seven questions that need to be answered: How and why were subnational legislatures established? How have subnational legislatures evolved as organizations? What lawmaking powers are vested in subnational legislatures? Under what electoral rules and in what sort of party system do subnational legislatures operate? What are the career patterns of legislators? What are the mechanics of the subnational lawmaking process? What is the nature of the representational relationship between subnational legislators and their constituents? Answers are needed because subnational legislatures play an increasingly important policymaking role.