Sri Lanka parliament has little control over finances: legislator

Oct 22, 2012 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's parliament has no real control over public finances with the arm of the government not even having a budget committee, though the country's constitution says otherwise, a legislator said.







But in countries where liberal thought is not valued, and where nationalism and interventionism prevails, parliamentary sovereignty can lead to a type of 'anything goes' absolutism, where even constitutions are changed at will.

In such countries the 'sovereignty' of the state and rulers can override that of the citizen.

Analysts say that under fully fledged National Socialism in Eastern Europe, the gazette and 'enabling law' eventually replaced what remained of Western European style parliaments.

In the United States, where its founding fathers fought for self-determination from the British, the concept of the sovereignty of the individual is more developed, going beyond a Cromwellian status of parliamentary sovereignty.

In countries where citizens have greater freedom from the rulers and the state, courts can strike down legislation that are unjust or infringes on the absolute guarantees of equality and freedoms set in the constitution.

Even in the UK,