The core feature of a parliamentary system is not that governments tend to emerge from the legislatures in some way or another, but their political responsibility to this body. While in only some parliamentary systems the government needs formal support of parliament to take office, in all parliamentary systems no government can survive against the will of parliament. This book assesses the larger influences that government termination by parliaments has on executive-legislative relations, claiming that the way in which the governments may be challenged or dismissed has far greater impact than previously understood. The chapters explore the institutions by which parliaments hold governments accountable and how they balance elected parliaments and appointed governments in parliamentary systems. Contributions move beyond the standard focus on government formation and instead analyze government termination by parliament evaluating its consequences in a detailed and comprehensive manner.
Most of the chapters in this book first appeared in a special issue of West European Politics, Vol. 45, #3, March 2022.
