RATIONALIZING PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS

Public Choice analysis of democratic political institutions focuses on the issues that are most salient under US constitutional arrangements . Parliamentary systems offer different institutional arrangements and different challenges to the Public Choice approach. We outline a Publ ic Choice account of parliamentary democracy which concentrates attent ion on the roles of electoral competition and disciplined political pa rties, while also offering a discussion of parliamentary procedure. Th e Public Choice approach is contrasted with the mainstream view of rep resentative, responsible government in which disciplined political par ties are often seen as a threat to parliamentary democracy.