How formal parliamentary negotiation affects policy-making: Evidence from Taiwan

Does parliamentary negotiation help facilitate legislation? This article applies propensity score matching to empirically investigate the effect of a unique formal negotiation mechanism in Taiwan’s parliament. The analysis of legislative initiatives between 2012 and 2015 shows that the so-called Party Negotiation Mechanism, while being invented to revive legislation amid stalemates, substantially reduces the chance of successful legislation. By extension, the undercut probability of legislative success under Taiwan’s majoritarian system implies that the conventional majoritarian–consensus framework has overlooked a crucial parameter that directly shapes the patterns of policy-making—the internal organisation of a parliament.