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A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.

Inside the Australian House of Representatives

Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power. The supremacy of the lower house usually arises from special restrictions placed (either explicitly by legislation or implicitly by convention) on the powers of the upper house, which often can only delay rather than veto legislation or has less control over money bills.

Under parliamentary systems it is usually the lower house alone that designates the head of government or prime minister, and may remove them through a vote of no confidence. There are exceptions to this however, such as the Prime Minister of Japan, who is formally selected with the approval of both houses of the Diet. A legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.

Common attributes[link]

In comparison with the upper house, lower houses frequently display certain characteristics:

• Greater power, usually based on restrictions against the upper house.
• Directly elected (apportionment is usually based on population).
• More members.
• Elected more frequently, and all at once.
• Has total or original control over budget and monetary laws.
• Able to override the upper house in some ways.
• In a presidential system, given the sole power to impeach the executive (the upper house then tries the impeachment).
• In a parliamentary system, can be dissolved by the executive.

Titles of lower houses[link]

Common names[link]

Many lower houses are named in the following manner: House/Chamber of Representatives/the People/Commons/Deputies.

• Chamber of Deputies
• Chamber of Representatives
• House of Assembly
• House of Representatives
• House of Commons
• Legislative Assembly
• National Assembly

See also[link]

• Representative democracy
• List of national legislatures
• Upper house

Walden Bello
Member of the Philippine House of Representatives from Akbayan Partylist
Incumbent
Assumed office July 2007
Personal details
Born	1945
Nationality	Filipino
Political party	Akbayan
Alma mater	Ateneo de Manila University, Princeton University
Religion	Roman Catholic

Walden Bello (born 1945) is a Filipino author, academic, and political analyst. He is a professor of sociology and public administration at the University of the Philippines Diliman, as well as executive director of Focus on the Global South. Born in Manila, Philippines, he became a political activist following the declaration of Martial Law by then-President Ferdinand Marcos on September 21, 1972.^[1] Bello currently sits as a member of Congress in the Philippines' House of Representatives where he serves as the political party Akbayan's second nominee.[1]

Walden Bello is the founding director of Focus on the Global South, a policy research institute based in Bangkok, Thailand. Prior to that he was executive director of the Institute for Food and Development Policy (Food First) in Oakland, California. Educated at Princeton University, where he did his doctorate in sociology in 1975, he subsequently taught at the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a research associate with the Center for South East Asian Studies. He is also a guest professor at Binghamton University, where his lectures focus predominantly on issues of globalization.[2]

In 2003, Bello was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, whose website describes him as "one of the leading critics of the current model of economic globalization, combining the roles of intellectual and activist."[3] Bello is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute (based in Amsterdam), and is a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus. In March 2008 he was named Outstanding Public Scholar for 2008 by the International Studies Association.[4]

Bello currently sits on the board of directors of the International Forum on Globalization.^[2]

Publications[link]

Books[link]

• The Food Wars (2009)
• Deglobalization: Ideas for a New World Economy (2003)
• The Future in the Balance (2001)
• Dragons in Distress: Asia's Miracle Economies in Crisis (1990)

Articles[link]

• 'The Global Food Price Crisis'(2009) Published in Pambazuka News [5]
• 'A man for this season? Keynes'(2009) Published in Business Mirror [6]
• 'CARPER: Latest Chapter in Agri Reform Battle'(2009) Published in Inquirer.net [7]
• 'Asia: The Coming Fury'(2009) Published in Foreign Policy in Focus [8]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Walden Bello's website
• Biographical information on Right Livelihood Award website
• Biographical information from the Transnational Institute
• Focus on the Global South

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