Parliamentariness

Parliamentariness is a term used in political science to describe the degree to which a political system relies on and operates through a parliamentary framework. It refers to how power is organized, legitimized, and contested within the institutions of the legislature and how the legislature interacts with the executive.

Core features commonly associated with high parliamentariness include an elected legislature with real policy-making authority, government formation and survival contingent on parliamentary support, a prime minister or equivalent as head of government, cabinet accountability to the parliament, regular elections, and robust legislative oversight of budgets and legislation. These elements reflect a governance pattern in which the legislature is central to lawmaking and to holding the executive to account.

Analytically, parliamentariness is often viewed as a spectrum ranging from high to low. High parliamentariness indicates strong parliamentary control, transparent procedures, and cohesive party systems that align with legislative processes. Low parliamentariness points to executive dominance, constitutional structures that insulate the executive from parliamentary scrutiny, or political cultures and practices that bypass legislative procedures.

Parliamentariness is distinct from democracy and from the more prescriptive notion of parliamentarism. A regime can be democratic yet exhibit varying degrees of parliamentariness, and a system described as parliamentarism emphasizes the dependence of the executive on parliamentary confidence. The concept serves as a descriptive heuristic for comparing regimes, rather than a normative judgment about legitimacy or quality of governance.

See also: Parliamentarism, parliamentary system, executive–legislative relations, political accountability.