Bicameralism and bicameral reforms in democracy and dictatorship in
comparative perspective
Baturo, AlexanderORCID: 0000-0002-1108-5287 and Elgie, RobertORCID: 0000-0001-5334-4796
(2018)
Bicameralism and bicameral reforms in democracy and dictatorship in
comparative perspective.
Taiwan Journal of Democracy, 14
(2).
pp. 1-29.
ISSN 1815-7238
Scholars generally agree that the number and percentage of bicameral legislatures
have been in decline but by the late 1990s the trend has either flattened out or
reversed. The existing studies are also predominantly informed by bicameral reforms
in mature democracies. Our aim is twofold. First, drawing from new data, we reexamine the fortunes of bicameralism in all democracies and dictatorships from 1945-
2016. Second, we look under the hood of the observed trend and take stock of over a
hundred of cases of the introduction, removal, or reintroduction of second chambers.
We find that that democracies rarely reform bicameralism and when they do it is
typically in context of a transition period. By contrast, the change in dictatorships is
much more frequent. Second chambers provide authoritarian leaders with patronage
opportunities, which in turn may influence regime stability. Drawing from survival
analysis, we find that dictatorships with partly or fully appointed senates are more
durable. In general, we argue that it is important to bring the experience of change in
non-democratic regimes to discussion about second chamber reform in general