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More significantly, assemblies exercise little positive legislative power.

- In the main, legislative proposals emanate from the executive.

The negative legislative power of assemblies – the ability to reject or amend proposed laws – is also limited.

Legislation is usually passed through assemblies, rather than by assemblies.

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Often seen as the key functions, assemblies are typically vested with legislative power in the hope that the laws thus made will be seen to authoritative and binding.

However, parliaments rarely monopolize legislative authority:

- Constitutional law is usually based beyond the competence of assembly. Ireland’s constitution is amended by referendum.

- Ministers routinely make law through statutory instruments.

- Executive officers (French president) often make law by decree; US president can veto laws when they have passed.

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A link between government and the people.

Assemblies are popular forums, bodies that ‘stood for’ the people themselves.

So, the power of an assembly within the political system is usually seen as an important index of democratic government.

However, it is less clear how this representative function is carried out: Trustee and Mandate (parties not assemblies) models.

Also, constituency representation is prominent is some states (USA).

§The absence of electoral choice and party competition in other states is compensated for by the ability of assemblies to resemble the wider society.

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Parliamentary Function of Representation | Agora

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This proximity to citizens is the basis of parliaments’ representative function. According to John K. Johnson, writing for the World Bank Institute, “Unlike chief executives, who represent entire nations, or bureaucrats and judges, whose responsibility it is to carry out and interpret the law impart…

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While legislative and representative roles of assemblies have declined in significance, greater emphasis has been placed in the ability of assemblies to constrain or check executive power.

Assemblies have become scrutinising bodies, the principal role of which is to deliver responsibility and accountability

-Most assemblies have developed institutional mechanisms designed to facilitate this role:

a)Parliamentary questioning of Prime Ministers and Ministers.

b)Committees.

c)Freedom of Information acts.

Resourcing parliamentary representatives with expert advice and research services

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How Parliament holds government to account

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Assemblies often act as major channels of recruitment, providing a pool of talent from which leading decision-makers emerge.

In parliamentary systems, service in the assembly is a required path for ministers and prime ministers.

Assemblies provide politicians with the experience of political debate and analysis.

However, assemblies are often inadequate in this respect:

- parliamentarians gain experience of politics as rhetoric but few opportunities exist to gain managerial and bureaucratic skills required to run government departments and oversee the process of policy formulation.

§- assemblies can corrupt by socializing them into the norms and values that distance them from the needs of their constituents and the instincts of grassroots party workers.

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The final function of assemblies is to promote legitimacy of a regime by encouraging the public to see the system as ‘rightful’.

The ability of assemblies to mobilize consent depends largely on their ability to function as popular conventions, endorsing laws and policies, as well as in their interest.

In addition to propaganda value, assemblies may also perform more creditable educational functions:

- Parliamentary debates can help to inform and instruct citizens about the affairs of government and the major issues of the day.

However,  the rise of electronic and more recently digital media has provided government with direct access to millions of voters, which has had a major impact on the status of assemblies.