The parliamentary law has always attracted the attention of scholars and researches in the field of law and political sciences, but also those who deal with the parliamentary issues on daily basis, through their work and activities in the parliaments.
The contents of the course book are presented and systematized in such a way that it first studies the most general institutes, principles, and values that are essential for the work and the functioning of the parliaments in general.
Moreover, the course book provides a comparative review of the functioning of modern parliaments, as well as a comprehensive historical and contemporary analysis of the Macedonian parliamentary life.
An important part is the one dedicated to the study of elections, and in particular, election campaigns as a key segment in the establishment of parliaments, the issues related to the political culture and political dialogue as an essential presumption for a normal development of the parliamentary life and politics in general.
As emphasized in the course book, the level of political culture that the MPs from the government and the opposition do (not) have plays a major role in the selection of the concept and the foundations of the political system, as well as how the parliament functions, how its structure is organized, and what the relations with the executive power are etc.
The comparative review of the work of several parliaments in the world presented in the course book is an added value of this paper. The comparative analysis always plays an important role in determining the advantages and disadvantages in the functioning of the parliamentary life, in order to overcome certain weaknesses when spotted, or upgrade, when there are determined advantages and good practices.
The course book includes an analysis of the contemporary parliamentary procedure based on the principle of studying the most important tools necessary for reaching solutions in relation to the key dilemma: when and how to use the parliamentary power.
In this regard, in the part about the parliamentary procedure, there is a review of the means needed for a specific use of that power, as well as the processes that legitimize the execution of that power. The parliamentary procedure in the course book is elaborated through two approaches – traditional and democratic, because it is well known that only by applying the traditional historical approach in relation to how things were done in the past, we cannot achieve comprehensive understanding and acceptance of the conditions developed in accordance with the new democratic rules.
These very new rules and principles are the essence of the contemporary parliamentary law. Among the most significant principles we can highlight the principle of minority protection, when the majority principle is applied in the parliamentary decision-making, in order to prevent a so-called parliamentary tyranny of the majority over the minority representatives, but also the reverse tendencies of favouring the minority recommendations to the disadvantage of the majority in the assembly; the principle of transparency, accountability, and responsibility for the work of the parliamentarians; the principle of openness and freedom of expression of MPs opinions in the debates and the work of the parliament; as well as the principle of democratic organisation of the parliament.
The parliaments and their work undoubtedly attract the attention of all those who are directly or indirectly concerned with their existence within the system, as well as their functioning within the state organisation of power. It is impossible to get a complete picture of the political system of one country without knowing or studying its parliament and parliamentary life from a historical and contemporary perspective. Precisely because of this essential finding, the parliamentary law gains more importance, taking into consideration that it contains data and information that reflect the real value of this scientific discipline. The challenge to gain insight into the parliamentary procedures, but also into the overall parliamentary life, was our main guiding thought while working on this study.
We truly hope that we managed to render our challenge, seen as an action to do research and analysis of the more significant data related to the parliamentary world, to a useful resource that will be of benefit not only to our students, but to the wider expert and scientific community.