Parliamentary procedure: principal forms and political effects

摘要

Legislative agendas depend on parliamentary procedure, of which there are two main versions and a noteworthy variant: Anglo-American, Euro-Latin, and Mex-Italian. Theorems proved here identify the output of each procedure under strategic and sincere voting. Surprises abound: Strategic voting makes Anglo-American procedure more restrictive than Euro-Latin, and either sort of voting makes Anglo-American procedure more conservative, or stabilizing. Although sincere voting makes Mex-Italian procedure equivalent to the similar-looking Euro-Latin, strategic voting makes it equivalent rather to Anglo-American. Also strategic voting reduces the effects of agenda manipulation only under Mex-Italian procedure. These findings raise new research questions.