Institutional Veto Players

Veto Player

An individual or collective actor whose agreement is necessary for change in the political status quo to occur.

Institutional Veto Player

Generated by a country’s constitution

Partisan Veto Player

Are generated by the way the political game is played

Judiciary

Supports the constitution of a state through judicial review

Constitution

A document or set of documents that outlines the powers, institutions, and structure of government, as well as expressing the rights of citizens and the limits on government

Judicial Review

the power of courts to assess whether a law is constitutionally valid, allowing them to invalidate laws and governmental actions that contravene the constitution.

Codified Constitution

A constitution that is written and enacted in a single document.

Uncodified Constitution

A constitution that is not written and enacted in a single documents, yet across multiple.

Rigid Constitution

A constitution that is difficult to amend, requiring special procedures to make changes.

Flexible Constitution

A constitution that can be easily amended or changed through ordinary legislative processes.

Concrete Review

is a judicial review process where courts can invalidate laws that are found unconstitutional in specific cases.

Abstract Review

A process where constitutional courts can assess legislation or government actions for compliance with the constitution without a specific case or dispute being brought before them.

Supreme Court

Final court of appeals; provide judgements made on the constitutional validity of law in the context of a specific case known as concrete review.

Constitutional Court

Provide an advisory but binding opinion on a proposed law, based on a suspicion of inconsistency with a constitution known as abstract review.

Judicial Restraint

Judges should apply the letter of the law, leaving politics to elected bodies.

Judicial Activism

The willingness of judges to venture beyond narrow legal reasoning so as to influence public policy.

Common Law

Judicial rulings on matters not explicitly treated in legislation, based on precedents created by decisions in specific cases.

Civil Law

Judicial rulings founded on written legal codes which seek to provide a single overarching framework for the conduct of public affairs.

Religious Law

The notion of a religious system or document being used as a legal source, through the methodology used varies.

Sub-national Governance

The system of governance that operates at a level below the national government, involving local or regional authorities that have some degree of autonomy and decision-making power.

Multilevel Governance

An administrative system in which power is distributed and shared horizontally and vertically among different levels of government, from the supranational to the local, with considerable interaction among the parts.

Unitary System

One in which sovereignty rests with the national government, and regional or local units have no independent powers.

Regional Government

A form of governance that is organized at the regional level, allowing for some decision-making authority and autonomy within the context of the broader national framework.

Deconcentration

Central government tasks are shifted from employees working in the capital to those working in the regions or local districts.

Delegation

Central government responsibilities are shifted to semi-autonomous bodies accountable to central government

Devolution

Central government transfers some decision-making autonomy to lower levels.

Federal System

One in which sovereignty is shared between two or more levels of government, each with independent powers and responsibilities.

Federation

Used within federations; typically used within territorially large and ethically diverse states.

Asymmetric Federalism

The phenomenon of states within a federation having unequal levels of power and influence due to size, wealth, and other factors.

Dual Federalism

National and local levels of government function independently from one another with separate responsibilities.

Cooperative Federalism

The layers are intermingled, and it is difficult to see who has ultimate responsibility.

Subsidarity

The principle that decisions should be made at the most local level possible, allowing for greater autonomy and efficiency in governance.

Quasi Federalism

A system of administration that is formally unitary but has some features of a federation .

Confederation

A looser form of a federation, consisting of a union of states with more powers left in the hands of constituent members.