Legislatures are arguably the most important political institution in modern democracies. The Oxford Handbook of Legislative Studies, written by some of the most distinguished legislative scholars in political science, provides a comprehensive and up-to-date description and critical assessment of the state of the art in this key area.

• 1: Shane Martin, Thomas Saalfeld and Kaare W. Strøm: Introduction


• Part I: Theories


• 2: Daniel Diermeier: Formal Models of Legislatures


• 3: Heinrich Best and Lars Vogel: The Sociology of Legislatures and Legislators


• 4: Amie Kreppel: Typologies and Classifications


• Part II: Methods


• 5: Royce Carroll and Keith Poole: Roll Call Analysis and the Study of Legislatures


• 6: Jonathan B. Slapin and Sven-Oliver Proksch: Words as Data: Content Analysis in Legislative Studies


• 7: André Bächtiger: Debate and Deliberation in Legislatures


• 8: Stefanie Bailer: Interviews and Surveys in Legislative Research


• 9: James N. Druckman, Thomas J. Leeper and Kevin J. Mullinix: The Experimental Study of Legislative Behavior


• Part III: Representation and Legislative Careers


• 10: Reuven Hazan: Candidate Selection: Implications and Challenges for Legislative Behavior


• 11: Audrey André, Sam Depauw and Matthew S. Shugart: The Effect of Electoral Institutions on Legislative Behavior


• 12: Michelle M. Taylor-Robinson: Gender and Legislatures


• 13: Rudy B. Andeweg: Roles in Legislatures


• 14: Thad Kousser and Scott A. MacKenzie: Legislative Careers


• Part IV: Organisation and Rules


• 15: Wolfgang C. Müller and Ulrich Sieberer: Procedure and Rules in Legislatures


• 16: William B. Heller and Diana M. Branduse: The Politics of Bicameralism


• 17: Shane Martin: Committees


• Part V: Parties in the Legislature


• 18: Thomas Saalfeld and Kaare W. Strøm: Political Parties and Legislators


• 19: Christopher Kam: Party Discipline


• 20: Carol Mershon: Legislative Party Switching


• 21: Lanny W. Martin and Georg Vanberg: Legislative Institutions and Coalition Government


• Part VI: Policy Making and Oversight


• 22: Bjørn-Erik Rasch: Institutional Foundations of Legislative Agenda Setting


• 23: Sebastian M. Saiegh: Law Making


• 24: Joachim Wehner: Legislatures and Public Finance


• 25: Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz: Legislatures, Lobbying and Interest Groups


• 26: Tapio Raunio: Legislatures and Foreign Policy


• 27: Common Agencya Legislatures and Bureaucracies


• Part VII: Expanding the Scope of Legislative Analysis


• 28: Simon Hix and Bjørn Høyland: Political Behaviour in the European Parliament


• 29: William Downs: Sub-National Legislatures


• 30: Brian F. Crisp and Constanza F. Schibber: The Study of Legislatures in Latin America


• 31: Josephine T. Andrews: Legislatures in Central and Eastern Europe


• 32: Paul Schuler and Edmund J. Malesky: Authoritarian Legislatures


• 33: Gary W. Cox: Reluctant Democrats and their Legislatures

Shane Martin is Reader in Comparative Politics, University of Leicester.
Thomas Saalfeld is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bamberg and the founding Director of the Bamberg Graduate School of Social Sciences.
Kaare W. Strøm is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego.