Legislators use ofOne-Minute Speeches

Osnat Akirav

Volume 14 Issue 3

Global Journal of Human-Social Science

This study examines how legislators use one-minute speeches (OMS) in a venue never before considered, the Israeli parliament (the Knesset). The study considers two research questions. First, do legislators use OMSs to set their agenda and make policy? If so, in what way? Second, what are the characteristics of the legislators who make extensive use of OMSs? We consider these questions in light of the global economic crisis of 2007-2010. The findings show that legislators made very limited use of OMSs as tool for making policy about the economic crisis. We found the same trend in the finance committee meetings and motions for the agenda. Furthermore, while opposition MKs, junior MKs and Arab MKs used OMSs more extensively than other MKs, they still rarely used them as a policy-making tool.