Browsing by Subject "Parliamentary debate"

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    Debating Societies, the Art of Rhetoric and the British House of Commons: Parliamentary Culture of Debate before and after the 1832 Reform Act
    (Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2012) Haapala, Taru
    British debating societies are here looked at a parliamentary perspec-tive. The main emphasis is on the rhetorical practise of parliamentary debate, which, it is argued, constitutes the main framework of the British culture of debate. This will be approached from the perspective of how the parliamenta-ry practises were reflected in the activities of various debating societies before and after the 1832 Reform Act. I will highlight that the rhetorical traditions of the British House of Commons were not formed in a vacuum, but, rather, shaped and adapted to constitutional changes. After the 1832 reform the prac-tises in debating societies imitated the procedure and rules of the House of Commons more closely than before. The latter part of the essay concentrates on William Gladstone’s interpretation of parliamentary debate, himself hav-ing actively contributed to various student debating societies. Gladstone’s approach on debate in Parliament illustrates a more general shift in rhetorical practise away from the category of public speaking and towards a more pro-ceduralised way of understanding parliamentary eloquence
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    Parliamentary Procedure as an Inventory of Disputes:A Comparison between Jeremy Bentham and Thomas Erskine May
    (Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 2012) Palonen, Kari
    Parliamentary politics is inherently procedural. The parliament debates and decides only questions that have been put on its agenda. Two famous tracts on the British parliamentary procedure, Jeremy Bentham’s Essay on Political Tactics and Thomas Erskine May’s A Treatise upon the Law, Privi-leges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament provide an inventory of con-troversies for competent parliamentarians. Both tracts regard parliamentary procedure itself as controversial, and both discuss how to deal with the con-troversies in a fair manner. The tracts differ in style: Bentham, relying on his own parliamentary imagination, is able to identify possible items of dispute, whereas May’s interpretation of parliamentary procedure includes the history of parliamentary controversies. For both, playing with time is an inherent part of the Westminster procedure, based on a combination of spending and saving time, in linking the parliamentary itinerary of the motions to the parliamen-tary calendar. Both strongly defend the Parliament as an exemplary delibera-tive assembly. May, however, thematises the increase of agenda items and the increasing scarcity of parliamentary time as well as ways of preventing par-liamentary paralysis due to obstruction. This leads May to revise the fair play principle to include the fair distribution of parliamentary time