Legislation and Politics

In a modern democracy, the act of legislation is of the utmost value because the law is the supreme authority. Principally, the primary authority for legislation in a democracy lies in the hands of the parliament. But the political power concentrated in the hands of the parties and the executive authority. This book contributes to the perception of the individual legislator as political initiator of legislation in modern parliamentarianism, and not only as a 'team player' of his party. The important innovation of the book is that it examines the act of legislation not only as a judicial or procedural process, but as a process of political negotiation. This point of view gives a new perspective to the strategies and tactics in legislation process. The last chapter deals with the interactions of rhetoric, gender and politics. The research was conducted in the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), but the findings have universal applicability: Many of the phenomena and strategies discussed are familiar in most parliaments.