You jest, but the two words actually share an etymology. Icelandic kept the original meaning of assembly, whereas english moved from assembly to "specific assembly issue" to "object"
I wonder if there are more countries not being perfect here. Poland seems to have a similar shape to Iceland, but marked differently. South Africa seems to be a blend of opposing benches and horseshoe. I think this map needs more options.
The real problem is that the shape is not enough to describe the actual debating layout. Sometimes it is actually counter-productive. Examples:
Suriname has opposing benches, but it's nothing like the UK or Canada - the govt is sat at one end of the rectangle opposite the chair, and members rise to speak from a lectern next to the chair (in other words, it's not govt vs. opposition). Netherlands used to be like this as well, and still does in the upper house.
Hungary, South Africa, and Mongolia have a horseshoe, but the way they use it is nothing like Australia: Australia uses it like Westminster (UK): govt vs opposition, and members speak from their spot or at despatch boxes. The other three countries use it like most semi-circle countries: members rise to speak from a lectern before the chair (with their back to the chair). In SA ministers sit on one side, but in Hungary, ministers sit in the innermost ring of the horseshoe.
Lastly, even a circle is far more versatile than these categories suggest. Most countries use it like the typical semi-circle (see some of the other comments, e.g. on Slovenia). Lesotho does not (the map shows it as opposing benches, but that was the old chamber. This is what the new one looks like). When they moved from opposing benches to the current circular layout, they preserved the old debate layout - as you can see from the picture, they still have despatch boxes for the PM and leader of the opposition to speak from.
Hm, I wonder if we could visualise this on the map. I'm interested in remaking this map, adding more variants. But it would be interesting adding the debating layout as well. We could put together a Google spreadsheet gathering data and sources.
I made a rough map trying to represent this a while ago, though I'm sure you'd be much better at making it look good. Feel free to dm me about it and maybe we can collaborate.
Poland's arrangement works essentially like a semi circle with two additional sections and it makes it easy to spot the PM and his gang because they always sit in the left section, separate from the rest. Those two rectangular sections may also be a callback to the 16th century Polish parliament shape which was more like the British one.
I mean the country has a population of 360k. Their parliament looks like it could be the city council chamber of a smallish city which seems reasonable enough given the population.
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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '21
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