ABSTRACT

Earlier studies have advanced a number of arguments to explain why legislators disrupt legislative business. This study carries out a confirmatory analysis of the arguments by analyzing 93 speeches delivered by Indian legislators on the subject of disruption. Using Applied Thematic Analysis we identified themes that are salient in the legislator speeches. We find highest salience given to the role of the Speaker, with members emphasizing on the need for the Speaker to show impartiality in the performance of duties. Another highly salient theme was the relationship between legislative parties and legislators, which featured concerns over rising dominance of legislative party leaders. Other themes such as adequacy and enforcement of legislative rules, the competitive interplay between ruling and opposition parties, influence of media and paucity of legislative opportunities received moderate attention. Low salience was given to arguments that explain disruption to be a consequence of democratization of the legislature or marginalization of certain social groups. These insights contribute to the extant literature by highlighting perspectives on disruption from the standpoint of “insiders” of the legislature.

摘要

早期的研究提出了许多论点来解释立法者为何扰乱立法工作。本研究通过分析印度立法者就破坏问题发表的 93 篇演讲，对这些论点进行了验证性分析。使用应用主题分析，我们确定了立法者演讲中的突出主题。我们发现议长的角色得到了最高的重视，成员们强调议长在履行职责时必须表现出公正性。另一个非常突出的主题是立法党和立法者之间的关系，其特点是对立法党领导人的主导地位上升表示担忧。其他主题，例如立法规则的充分性和执行、执政党和反对党之间的竞争性相互作用、媒体的影响和立法​​机会的缺乏受到了适度的关注。将破坏解释为立法机构民主化或某些社会群体边缘化的结果的论点没有受到重视。这些见解通过从立法机关“内部人员”的角度突出对破坏的观点，为现存的文献做出了贡献。