Parliamentary Thinking

Description

The parliamentary style of politics has been formed over centuries; nobody theorised it in advance. This book presents a thought experiment to spell out key principles of the parliamentary ideal type of politics. Max Weber offers the main intellectual inspiration, Westminster parliament provides the main historical reference and the author’s studies on parliamentary procedure and rhetoric provide the background for the book. Parliamentary acting and thinking offer us the best example of politics as a contingent and controversial activity. Using a parliamentary imagination, the author constructs the ideal type in five main chapters: dissensual modes of proceeding; rhetoric of parliamentary debate; parliamentary formation and control of government; parliamentarians as politicians; and parliamentary time as their common subtext. In the last two chapters, the book outlines the possibilities of extending parliamentary judgment to politics beyond parliaments proper and the chances for parliamentary politics succeeding today. Front Matter ....Pages i-xi Parliamentary Politics as an Activity (Kari Palonen)....Pages 1-15 Thinking Parliamentary Politics as an Ideal Type (Kari Palonen)....Pages 17-43 Parliamentary Procedure: Politics of Dissensus (Kari Palonen)....Pages 45-74 Deliberative Rhetoric of Parliamentary Debate (Kari Palonen)....Pages 75-106 Politics of Parliamentary Government (Kari Palonen)....Pages 107-140 Parliamentary Actors as Politicians (Kari Palonen)....Pages 141-168 Parliamentary Time as a Medium of Politics (Kari Palonen)....Pages 169-202 Degrees of Acting Parliamentarily (Kari Palonen)....Pages 203-224 Chances for Parliamentary Politics Today (Kari Palonen)....Pages 225-242 Back Matter ....Pages 243-270