Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political sciencethat deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the seriesare characterized by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. Theseries is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. Formore information visit: www.ecprnet.eu The series is edited by Emilie van Haute, Professor of Political Science, Universit� libre deBruxelles; Ferdinand M�ller-Rommel, Director of the Center for the Study of Democracy, Leuphana University; and Susan Scarrow, John and Rebecca Moores Professor of PoliticalScience, University of Houston. How can we explain the evolution of legislatures in Western Europe? This book analysesninety procedural reforms which restructured control over the plenary agenda andcommittee power in Britain, France, Sweden, and Germany between 1866 and 2015.Legislatures evolve towards one of two procedural ideal types: talking (where governmentscontrol the agenda) or working legislatures (with powerful committees). All else beingequal, legislators' demand for mega-seats on legislative committees triggers the evolutionof working legislatures. If, however, legislators fail to centralize agenda control inresponse to anti-system obstruction, legislative procedures break down. Rather thana decline of legislatures, talking legislatures accordingly indicate the resilience oflegislative democracy. In conclusion, the book shows the causal nexus betweenprocedural reforms and (legislative) democracy.