Institutions, Actors, and Agendas: Comparative Approaches to Legislative Politics

This panel invites papers that explore how legislators exercise influence, navigate institutional constraints, and respond to political pressures across a variety of political systems. We are particularly interested in research that examines legislative behavior through the lenses of agenda-setting, political leadership, representation, and institutional design. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the role of legislative leaders in shaping policy, the impact of public opinion or electoral dynamics on legislative agendas, the effects of descriptive representation on parliamentary discourse, and the internal mechanisms that structure legislative decision-making. Comparative and single-case studies, as well as innovative methodological approaches, are welcome. The panel aims to bring together scholarship that advances our understanding of how legislators operate within and shape the political institutions they inhabit.