Chapter Ten - Conclusion: Reputation, Reform, and the Future of Parliaments

Summary

Returning to the research questions formulated in the introductory chapter, a number of conclusions can now be drawn. A first is that in–depth studies of legislatures are a useful complement to macropolitical studies of political change, as long as they are related to the contextual structural factors and actors. Our study is part of a second-generation research agenda on political change and democratic consolidation which, in consonance with studies concentrating on other aspects of the political system such as elections and electoral systems, constitutional processes, the party system, the functioning of parliamentary committees, and the interplay between parliament and civil society, may provide more detailed insights into processes of democratic change and consolidation in a particular arena.

A second conclusion is that behavioural change of political actors spurred by parliamentary processes has been slow, limited, and ambiguous, albeit not elusive. After all, processes of behavioural change generally tend to be sluggish and prone to reversals; they are rarely linear. Seen in this light and taking into account the low level of institutionalization from which our legislatures entered the process of democratic change and consolidation, this is hardly surprising. Nevertheless, our analysis shows that some change of actor behaviour took place in key areas of parliamentary processes. One is the change of behaviour in electoral politics. Though machine politics still dominates electoral campaigning and subsequent strategies of preserving and consolidating political power, electoral violence and fraud are on the decline. Moreover, the watchdog functions exercised by NGOs, pollwatch organizations, and an attentive media, have made it more difficult for political parties and their candidates to engage with impunity in rampant vote buying and cheating. While in South Korea and — to a lesser extent — India these practices have been largely eliminated, they are still endemic in the Philippines. In South Korea and in Thailand, too, as a result of more effective election supervision, there is now a growing tendency among political parties to woo voters with populist policies and promises. Whether such policies, if implemented, enhance the inclusiveness of legislation or whether they only promote a personal cult centred on certain political leaders remains to be seen. What is more certain, however, is that in most cases politicians still rely more on personal appeal than programmatic policies.