The Jordanian Senate and the Bahraini Shura Council A Comparative Study
Khalid I. Al Odwan, Department of Political Science, Yarmouk University, Irbid, Jordan.
Ramze Helat, Department of Public Law, University of Applied Sciences, Bahrain.
Abstract
This study aims at comparing the Jordanian Senate and the Shura Council of Bahrain in terms of composition, parliamentary immunity, parliamentary dissolution, functions, and powers, with a focus on the political oversight role, to examine the oversight authority according to the appointed councils in the legislative institution to investigate the political feasibility of this kind of appointed councils. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, we resorted to a comparative analysis approach concentrating on legal and political dimensions. The findings of the study were:
1- The political feasibility of the appointed council correlated with the political oversight tools assigned to it theoretically, and the exert of these tools is the key factor in determining this feasibility.
2-The results of the study showed that the appointed councils in the legislative institution (the Senate and the Shura Council) have the political oversight tools – at least constitutionally – in the framework of the jurisdictions and authorities within the constitution and the internal regulation. And that was less by necessity compared with the elected council.
3- The study concluded that the Jordanian Senate has oversight tools more than the Bahraini Shura Council, such as interrogation and the general debate and the formation of commissions of inquiry.
4- The study also showed that there is a political oversight tool that can emerge from the financial function to the parliament.
Finally, the study provides a set of recommendations; the most important is to propose a model to measure the political feasibility of appointed councils.
Key words: The Jordanian Senate, The Bahraini Shura Council, Political Oversight, The legislative Function, Financial Function.