Parliamentary Question Times: How Legislative Accountability Mechanisms Affect Mass Political Engagement

Over time, people have been losing interest in politics. Some believe this to be one of the largest challenges facing democracy today. What causes some citizens to be more engaged than others? This paper argues that national- level political institutions are important in shaping the tone of political debate between election campaigns. Some countries have regular, accessible debates between political leaders; in others the debate is rarer and harder to follow. Parliamentary question time (QT) is a prominent forum for regular elite-level debate, and QTs featuring open, accessible debate should help induce citizens to engage with politics by providing them with an information-laden political spectacle. The data show that these open QTs are associated with higher levels of political knowledge, partisanship, and turnout.