An Alternative to Government? Assessing Differences in the Legislative Agendas of the Opposition and the Coalition in the Knesset

Shahaf Zamir, Reichman University

Amnon Cavari, Reichman University

Ilana Shpaizman, Bar Ilan University

Opposition parties in parliamentary regimes appear disadvantaged in promoting policies, as they lack a majority in parliament. However, the agenda-setting literature suggests that opposition parties can influence the government’s agenda because they face fewer constraints in determining the issues they raise during the agenda-setting phase. This contrasts with the coalition parties, which must respond to opposition criticism or real-world developments due to their government policy responsibility. Consequently, opposition parties can influence the government’s agenda to the extent that the government adopts legislation on issues initiated by the opposition. To what extent do opposition parties succeed in setting the parliamentary agenda? We examine this question using the Israeli case study – a strong unicameral parliamentary system with few institutional limitations on parliamentary agenda setting and frequent elections that generate a wide range of coalition compositions. Our data include various tools of members of Knesset from Knesset 17 to 24 (2006-2022), including parliamentary questions, private member bills, and government bills. Preliminary analysis supports the claim of opposition control of the legislative agenda: we find a correlation between the opposition’s agenda, as expressed through parliamentary questions and bills of opposition members, and the legislative agenda of the Knesset as measured by the overall bills placed on the Knesset agenda. This relationship appears stable and consistent across governments. Furthermore, the relationship between the government’s agenda—reflected in government legislation—and the parliamentary agenda remains similar and unchanged throughout the Knessets examined.

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