Does a Rule Change that Weakens Majority Control Really Increase Bipartisanship in the Legislature? : Evidence from the Korean National Assembly

This paper examines the effects of vote quorum change upon the success of bills in the legislative procedure by utilizing the recent legislative dataset in the 18th and 19th Korean National Assembly. The 18th and 19th KNA offers a unique opportunity for testing the effects in that major rule changes have been rare in legislatures in institutionalized democracies. The results show that the institutions designed to enforce bipartisan consensus beyond partisan lines as well as ideological divides are partially effective; 1) the level of bipartisanship in bill cosponsorship is more strongly associated with the chance of bill succeeding in the plenary session in the 19th KNA; 2) a bill cosponsored with a high level of bipartisan cooperation has higher chances of passing as amended in the 19th KNA, as compared to that in the 18th KNA; and 3) while its overall effects remain strong in both KNAs, the chance of passage of a bill introduced by majority party members drops significantly in the 19th KNA.