This comprehensive Handbook takes a multidisciplinary approach to the study of parliaments, offering novel insights into the key aspects of legislatures, legislative institutions and legislative politics. Connecting rich and diverse fields of inquiry, it illuminates how the study of parliaments has shaped a wider understanding surrounding politics and society over the past decades. Through 26 thematic chapters, expert contributors analyse parliamentary institutions from various disciplinary perspectives (history, law, political science, political economy, sociology and anthropology). A wide range of approaches is covered, including the sociological study of members of parliaments, gender studies and the mathematical conceptualisation of legislatures. Exploring the history of parliament, the concepts and theories of parliamentarism, constitutional law, and the linkages between parliaments and the administrative state or with populism, this incisive Handbook provides a panoramic view of this institution. Chapters also map the main trends, patterns of developments and controversies related to parliaments, assessing the strengths and weaknesses of current research and identifying a range of promising avenues for further study. Drawing together international and comparative approaches, the Handbook of Parliamentary Studies will be a critical resource for academics and students of parliamentary politics, political science, political economy, public law and political history. It also provides a vital foundation for researchers of legislative and political institutions.

Research has paid little attention to date on how European Union law and regulation affect both the public-private mix in healthcare and the organization of private health insurance as an industry. Filling this gap, this collective book provides insights on the political economy of EU insurance regulation, its impact on private health insurers and on its interactions with domestic healthcare policy-making in four countries. Assembling original contributions drafted by a multidisciplinary team, Private Health Insurance and the European Union offers a thorough examination of a largely unrecognized source of EU influence in healthcare - and sheds a new light on the role played by private actors in social policy. Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Research has paid little attention to date on how European Union law and regulation affect both the public-private mix in healthcare and the organization of private health insurance as an industry. Filling this gap, this collective book provides insights on the political economy of EU insurance regulation, its impact on private health insurers and on its interactions with domestic healthcare policy-making in four countries. Assembling original contributions drafted by a multidisciplinary team, Private Health Insurance and the European Union offers a thorough examination of a largely unrecognized source of EU influence in healthcare - and sheds a new light on the role played by private actors in social policy. Chapter 1 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.