Parliament and Politics

• Published in: History of the Scottish Parliament Vol. 3; p. 244
• Main Author: Goodare, Julian
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: United Kingdom Edinburgh University Press 22.09.2010
• Subjects: Absolute monarchy; Asset forfeiture; British & Irish history; British History; Civil law; European history; Governance; Government; Government initiatives; Government officials; Government programs; Heads of state; Kings; Law; Legislative bodies; Legislatures; Medieval and Renaissance History (500 to 1500); Monarchism; Monarchs; Monarchy; parliamentarians; Parliamentary system; Parliaments; political actors; Political change; Political debate; Political elections; Political History; Political processes; Political regimes; Political revolutions; Political science; Political systems; Politics; Property law; Property ownership; Property ownership transfers; Scottish History; Scottish parliament; Taxation; Voting
• ISBN: 0748614869; 9780748614868
• DOI: 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748614868.003.0009

This chapter is about how Scottish parliaments functioned politically. It is about what parliaments did – or, more precisely, about how political actors used parliaments to do things. It is not a narrative of political events in parliament; much of this has been provided by the previous volumes in this series and by other works cited therein. It is a structural analysis of the types of things that people used parliament to do, and how it did them. The question behind much of the discussion is: Whatdifferencedid it make, politically, for Scotland to have parliaments? Politics is best