The resilience of parliamentary oversight during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

This review article takes stock of the research analysing the resilience of parliamentary oversight during the COVID-19 pandemic in 31 democracies. The extant research shows that parliaments were better able to fulfil their oversight roles in states with a higher quality of democracy and where constitutional and procedural rules provided more space for parliamentary scrutiny (e.g. incongruent bicameralism). Scholars have also argued that unified executives often attempted to bypass legislative oversight, while on the contrary the checks and balances embedded in coalition governance have acted as a break on attempts to marginalise parliaments. Parliaments struggling to assert their autonomy and fulfil their scrutiny role in normal times saw these issues exacerbated during the health crisis. Finally, the resilience of parliamentary oversight also depended on the extent to which opposition parties adopted a ‘rally around the flag’ or a politicisation strategy, the latter appearing more likely as the pandemic progressed.