Parliament

Parliaments are among the fundamental institutions of Australian democracy (see Chapter 2). In this chapter, following on from arguments raised in Chapter 1, Uhr and Abjorensen suggest that the democratic law-making function of parliaments ought to be underpinned by principles of deliberation. This chapter also draws on wider theories of democracy (Chapter 1) and demonstrates the relevance of the approaches found in the ‘new institutionalism’ (see Chapter 2). The chapter, like most of those in this section of the book, challenges the view of many critical theorists that political institutions do not really count for much against the larger power structures embedded in Australian society (Chapter 4).