Parliamentary Affairs Advance Access originally published online on December 14, 2007
Parliamentary Affairs 2008 61(1):122-143; doi:10.1093/pa/gsm058
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From ‘Parliamentary Control’ to ‘Accountable Government’? The Role of Public Committee Hearings in the Swedish Riksdag
The present article, which draws on data from the 2002–2006 Riksdag, analyses the capacity of the Swedish standing committee system to hold the executive to account and, in particular, the contribution to this made by public committee hearings. In light of the significant growth in their number, it is asked whether open hearings have contributed to a shift away from the historic instruments of ‘political control’ towards a greater (British-style) emphasis on ‘accountable government’. Direct ministerial accountability has remained largely confined to the Constitution Committee's annual review of government, but the responsibility for holding the executive to account has been widened by the obligation placed on all committees to engage in post-legislative scrutiny (‘follow-up and evaluation’).