The Anthropology of Parliaments
The Anthropology of Parliaments offers a fresh, comparative approach to analysing parliaments and democratic politics, drawing together rare ethnographic work by anthropologists and politics scholars from around the world.
Crewes insights deepen our understanding of the complexity of political institutions. She reveals how elected politicians navigate relationships by forging alliances and thwarting opponents; how parliamentary buildings are constructed as sites of work, debate and the nation in miniature; and how politicians and officials engage with hierarchies, continuity and change. This book also proposes how to study parliaments through an anthropological lens while in conversation with other disciplines. The dive into ethnographies from across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific Region demolishes hackneyed geo-political categories and culminates in a new comparative theory about the contradictions in everyday political work.
This important book will be of interest to anyone studying parliaments but especially those in the disciplines of anthropology and sociology; politics, legal and development studies; and international relations.
Emma Crewe is Professor of Social Anthropology at SOAS, University of London, UK.
With characteristic wit and imagination, Emma Crewe casts her anthropological eye across the spectrum of parliamentary politics. This book is the product of those enquiries it is sparklingly fresh, insightful, and as ever with this author, more interested in illumination than condemnation.
Jonathan Spencer, University of Edinburgh, UK.
This is a pioneering anthropological exploration of parliaments from the UK to East Africa and South Asia, through a rigorous, imaginative and productive crossing of disciplinary boundaries. Emma Crewes study of the sociality of parliaments elections, representation and scrutiny is complemented by a fascinating account of the culture of parliaments their rhythms, riffs and rituals both drawing on a formidable volume of primary research, from the constituency level to every imaginable aspect of parliamentary practice.
Niraja Gopal Jayal, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2021 Emma Crewe
The right of Emma Crewe to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Crewe, Emma, 1962- author.
Title: The anthropology of parliaments : entanglements in democratic politics / Emma Crewe.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020054562 | ISBN 9781350089600 (hardback) | ISBN 9781350089594 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003084488 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Legislative bodies. | Parliamentary practice. | Democracy.| Comparative government.
Classification: LCC JF511 .C74 2021 | DDC 328.3--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020054562
ISBN: 978-1-350-08960-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-350-08959-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-08448-8 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003084488
To my brother Pg and sister Bel
In writing this book I have incurred even more debts of gratitude than usual. My thanks to various research funders: of my study on the House of Lords (Economic and Social Research Council, 19982001, R000237788), on the House of Commons (Leverhulme Trust, 201113, RF-2011-261-00004), of research with my colleagues in Bangladesh and Ethiopia (Economic and Social Research Council, 201417, ES/L005409/1), supporting artists and scholars in Ethiopia and Myanmar to study parliaments (Arts and Humanities Research Council and Global Challenges Research Fund 201721, AH/R005435/1), and generously covering the time it took to write this book and the cost of making it open access (European Research Council, 201924, 834986).
I have lent heavily on my colleagues in the Global Research Network on Parliaments and People especially Richard Axelby, Jastinder Kaur and Bethel Worku-Dix in SOAS; they have given me ideas, encouragement and comments from beginning to end. I also appreciate hugely the comments from other colleagues in SOAS David Mosse and Amir Massoumian; colleagues on my ERC-funded ethnographies of parliaments project Cristiane Brum Bernardes and Mitiku Gabrehiwot Tesfaye; as well as Joo Mineiro, Julian Spencer-Churchill and David Beamish (former Clerk of the Parliaments). Other GRNPP Fellows Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Shirin Rai and Niraja Gopal Jayal were a huge inspiration. I thank all the politicians who gave me their time and stories, most recently Steve Hogg (my own ward district councillor) and Hilary Burn (Chair of the Parish Councils Airport Association), as well as fellow activist John Adams (Stop Bristol Airport Expansion) for doing politics with me and then checking the text. All protagonists in my narratives have checked that they are anonymised or, if named, that they recognise themselves and the events in the account. Theo Walkers drawings are brilliant and he is a pleasure to work with. Thanks to Routledge, and especially Katherine Ong and Amy Doffegnies, for guiding, editing and publishing this book.
My family, and especially my husband Nicholas, daughters Cleo and Scarlett, and step-son Joe, give me far more patience and advice than I deserve. I thank my mother, Sally, for teaching me to be curious and my father, Colin for provoking me into doing politics. I dedicate this book to my brother and sister, Pg and Bel Crewe, who initiated me into the art of collaboration. After all, politics begins in the family.
DOI: 10.4324/9781003084488-1
In the state opening of the 1908 Ottoman Parliament in Istanbul, seen on the cover of this book, the representatives are uniformly male, formal, and clothed in black. Globally our political institutions remain blighted by male dominance. But if you consider the various constituencies these politicians represent, you might also see this as a vast and diverse empire on show. In contrast to European colonial nations, it is claimed that all Ottoman subjects were citizens with the same political rights and were represented in the Parliament (Tresay ). These Ottoman Members of Parliament discussed Westminster in a debate during the following year, and were disinclined to emulate it:
Abdlaziz Mecdi Efendi (Karesi): Do the parliamentary system and equality reign supreme in England?
Kozmidi Efendi (Istanbul): Im not referring to England here. I am an Ottoman, was born an Ottoman, and was brought up an Ottoman. Anything else simply doesnt concern me.
