The three great challenges of parliamentarism

2025-06-17 18:54:00, Opinione Iris Beqiri

Parliamentarism is a system of government that faces many challenges. All of them revolve around maintaining a fair and functional system, despite the unpredictable nature of political developments. There are a number of obstacles and difficulties, driven by various factors and all with their impact on the activity and processes that are essentially representation, lawmaking and oversight. Among the many challenges of parliamentarism, three of them should be highlighted:

Limited time for valuable debates

It has become almost common for various debates that focus only on personal attacks between deputies to take up a lot of time, and often continue episodically from one session to another, while when it comes to important issues, parliamentary time is extremely limited. This is a widespread problem everywhere in the Balkans, but what must be understood is that reducing the time allocated to an issue, new legal initiative or topic of interest to citizens leads to superficial reviews, to analyses that do not reach into detail and skepticism. Thorough discussions are the only ones offered by the limited time of parliamentary debate. And despite the fact that nowadays communication between representatives and those represented is also created through social media, this is not enough.

The need for rapid adaptation

Nowadays, when political dynamics and not only bring unexpected changes, the necessity arises for immediate addressing of certain issues and rapid adaptation to the new reality that these unexpected events offer. Consequently, policies and strategies are required that offer the best possible solution, within a short time and that require fewer state resources. An institution like parliament has the important task of shaping national policies and when the right policies are given priority, more protection is created for citizens, risks are reduced and new opportunities are created.

Public trust in decline

Public trust has a downward trend everywhere in the world and this is neither a finding nor a shocking data. It all has to do with the way policymaking is practiced. Perhaps politics in the 21st century is not as inspiring as it used to be. What is certain is that public trust is a very important part of politics and builds a mutual relationship with citizens. If citizens pay taxes more regularly, obey laws more easily and follow rules more meticulously, this also comes from the trust created, which makes them act without fear and suspicion. Public trust has a great impact on society, as it creates more bridges of cooperation, increases stability, improves the economy and democracy.

Perhaps the greatest challenge is to define the meaning of 'parliamentarism', when we live in challenging times in all dimensions of the word and when political systems themselves undergo changes due to many internal and external factors. Amidst many political challenges, old and new, parliamentarism offers all the nuances of representation and interests that bring people and country together.