Resumen de Legislative committees in the Turkish Parliament: performing procedural minimum or effective scrutiny?

Eda Bektas

• This study examines committee influence on government bills during the AKP’s2011–2015 majority government term in Turkey, an era characterised bydemocratic backsliding. It explores whether committees introduce moresubstantial amendments to government bills when they draw on theirscrutiny powers (i.e. hearing sponsoring ministers, hearing stakeholders,forming subcommittees, secondary committee review) providing themdiverse information and policy expertise. I hypothesise and test under whatconditions committees use these competencies to initiate substantialchanges. Overallfindings based on a novel dataset indicate that legislativecommittees introduce more substantial amendments to government billswhen they consult with sponsoring ministers and stakeholders. Thesefindings suggest that the formal capabilities of legislative committees provideopportunities for legislators to influence government legislation even inadverse political contexts, as these mechanisms limit the government’s abilityto impose its legislative agenda unilaterally. It contributes to the debates onstrengthening legislatures for effective government scrutiny