Introduction

Abstract

The focus of this book is legislative debate or speechmaking or, simply put, ‘talk’ within legislatures: more specifically, in parliaments in parliamentary systems. We here take as our starting point the ‘parliamentary chain of delegation’, which suggests that power relationships in a parliamentary democracy can be described as a chain, where citizens in a first step delegate power to representatives in a legislature, who in turn delegate power to a cabinet and a prime minister (PM), who delegates power to line ministers (see, e.g., Strøm 2000). This description of a chain makes clear that the legislature and its representatives play an important role in parliamentary democracies, linking citizens to the cabinet, and overseeing and to some extent controlling the cabinet. Legislatures, of course, also play an important role in the policy-making process, being the ultimate ‘law-making’ body (see, e.g., Martin, Saalfeld and Strøm 2014; Kreppel 2011).

Much of politics involves talk. Rhetoric and debate are pervasive in electoral campaigns and legislative decision making.

(Austen-Smith 1990, p. 124)

Democracy thrives through debate. Democratic parliaments are open forums where elected representatives engage in arguments over policy.

(Proksch and Slapin 2014, p. 1)