‘Where were the massed ranks of parliamentary reformers?’ – ‘attitudinal’ and ‘contextual’ approaches to parliamentary reform

• Published in: Journal of legislative studies Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 57 - 76
• Main Author: Kelso, Alexandra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.04.2003
• Subjects: Committees; Executive-legislative relations; Legislative Bodies; Legislative Process; Lower chamber; Oversight; Parliament; Parliamentary committees; Political attitudes; Political parties; Political reform; Political science; Reform; United Kingdom
• DOI: 10.1080/13523270300660004
• ISSN: 1357-2334

On 14 May 2002, the House of Commons voted on proposals put forward by the Modernisation Select Committee for reform of the departmental select committee system. This article examines the origins of those proposals, and the outcome of the vote, focusing on one particular proposal to create a Committee of Nomination to place MPs onto select committees. This raises questions regarding two competing academic approaches to explaining parliamentary reform, the 'attitudinal' approach and the 'contextual' approach, and concludes that, of the two, the 'contextual' approach is better placed to explain the failure to create a Committee of Nomination. Reprinted by permission of Frank Cass & Co. Ltd.