Department of Politics and International Relations

African countries are adopting two houses of parliament to boost democracy

Posted on 12 September 2024

New article by Thalia Gerzso

image of Thalia Gerzso

Dr Thalia Gerzso has a new article on The Conversation this week.

In the article "African countries are adopting two houses of parliament to boost democracy – but that’s not always what happens"

Thalia investigates the reasons behind the resurgence of bicameralism in Africa. She considers governments’ rationale, which argued that upper chambers would improve the state of democracy.

However, Thalia has found that quantitative and qualitative data suggests otherwise. These institutional changes have often sought to weaken the opposition and amplify the executive branch’s control over the parliament.

Thalia concludes that the resurgence of African bicameral parliaments shows the importance of being wary when pushing for institutional reform.

Bicameralism doesn’t necessarily improve the state of democracy. In fact, in countries where democracy still struggles to take root, power holders can use upper houses to gain greater control of the legislative branch.

When designing and promoting institutional reform, policymakers, donors and civil society actors should pay close attention to the political aspects of these reforms. They sometimes have the potential to become a roadblock to democracy.

Thalia is an assistant professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations.