Councils and Committees

[18107]

Hi there,

My nation some time ago passed a reform introducing Councils and Committees into the legislative process. There are various different types of Councils/Committees that have their own responsibilities.

But, they have rarely been used. They are intended for roleplay purposes, where parties can propose a law in a Committee/Council before it goes up to the Senate to be voted on.

Is there anyway I can get them used more or can other parties roleplay as part of the council/committees to propose new laws for the nation?

[Aquinas]

For what it is worth, my general experience has been that, on a long-term basis, it is difficult to maintain the interest of players in parliamentary committee systems. Committees can be seen as superfluous. ie. Why debate something in a committee when it might seem more appropriate to debate in a relevant legislative bill debate?

One way to make committees more interesting would be if players took into account how committee members from their party might come to conclusions which do not always align with the policy of their party as a whole. The work parliamentary committees do is generally more specialist than the work that goes on in the main parliamentary chamber. Committee members are likely to be sifting through evidence, listening to experts, perhaps working together co-operatively much more than they would in the main chamber.

A committee's recommendations might carry particular weight if it voted unanimousy for them, in defiance of party lines.

So potentially, you could have a lot of fun with committees, if you gave them a measure of independence from the party line.

But at the end of the day, as with all role-plays, parliamentary committees will be whatever players make of them.