Rituals in Parliaments

Political, Anthropological and Historical Perspectives on Europe and the United States

• Author(s): Emma Crewe, Marion G. Müller,
• Publisher: Peter Lang
• Pages: 209
• ISBN_10: 3631519931
  ISBN_13: 9783631519936
  
• Language: en
• Categories: History / Europe / General , History / Modern / 21st Century , Political Science / General , Political Science / American Government / Legislative Branch , Political Science / History & Theory , Political Science / World / European , Social Science / Anthropology / General , Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social , Social Science / Ethnic Studies / General ,

Description:... By bringing together three different academic disciplines - anthropology, political science and history - and covering a variety of different parliamentary assemblies, both in Europe and in the United States, this book aims to offer a fresh approach to parliamentary studies. The authors assess the importance of ritual and symbolic communication in different parliamentary settings. The underlying question that each practitioner and scholar addresses is: Do parliamentary rituals really matter? Some of the contributors argue that legislative procedure is more telling of the role and reputation that a parliament has in a given society than its rituals and ceremonies. Others stress the relevance of these ritual expressions for conveying political sense and meaning to the public.