President-elect Jacob Zuma receives a standing ovation after being elected unopposed in 2014. GovernmentZA/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by-nd)
Parliaments and broader democratic trends necessarily interact. Parliaments are meant to be responsive to what is being discussed and needed in the country they serve, and more importantly they are meant to anticipate those discussions and needs. If you’re working in such a parliament, the key to getting this part right is to focus not on the macro-level of this process but on the micro-level of a parliament’s functioning. When we do this, it is easier to see precisely how a parliament and broader democratic trends interact.
