political science class 9

legislatures and executives

what does legislatures of power mean

Montesquieu: separation of powers to avoid concentration and abuse of power

3 powers: executive, legislature, judicial

separation of power goal: system checks and balances, where power of one branch keeps power other branches in balance

what are legislatures and how do they organize

  • legislature: branch government responsible for discussing and passing legislation, keeping watch on executive

    • generic term, yet sometimes misleading because primary function often not law-making

how do they organize

  • unicameral vs bicameral

    • unicameralism: 1 chamber/house

    • bicameralism: 2 chambers

      • sometimes different functions (lower house/1st chambers; representing population AND upper house/2nd chamber; representing socially/territorially defined groups)

      • OR different members (lower house; elected members AND upper house; elected and/or appointed members

      • different kinds of bicameralism: strong (broadly equal powers) and weak (second chamber constitutionally and politically subordinate to first chamber)

      ARGUMENTS IN FAVOUR OF BICAMERALISM

      ARGUMENTS

      AGAINST

      BICAMERALISM

      •Stronger checks and balances

      •Institutional conflict between 2 chambers

      •Wider representation

      •Slower procedures

      •Better legislation

      •Reduced accountability

what are the functions of legislatures

  1. representation

    • legislatures and lagislators repesent the interests of the electorate and their constituencies

    • interest aggregation and articulation

    • legislatures often not representative of society in socio-economic terms: over-representation 4 M’s: middle-class, middle-aged, majority, men

  2. legitimation

    • legislatures promote legitimacy or rightfulness of the entire political system

    • legitimacy = the process of making something morally or ethically acceptable or right in the eyes of the general public

  3. law-making

    • = the act of initiating, debating and passing laws

    • positive legislative power: ability to intitiate or propose laws

    • negative legislative power: ability to consider, amend, delay (filibuster) or reject proposed laws

    • legislatures rarely monopolize law-making

  4. scrutiny

    • legislatures control or check executive power

    • veto powers, approving executive appointments, question time, remove the executive from office (vote of no confidence (parliamentary systems), impeachment (presidential systems)

    • impeachment = to charge a public official (president) with improper or illegal conduct in office. Can lead to president’s removal from office

    • legislative commitees:

      • key tasks: prepare and examine legislation

      • review government bills before they become law

      • supervise executive action

      • investigate matters of public concern

      • members often policy experts with experience or specialist knowledge → can keep close watch on executive actions and policies

how do executives operate

many forms and often centralized around leadership of a single or small group of individuals

  • head of state

    • formal authority, largely ceremonial; limited power

    • con be constitutional monarch or non-executive elected/appointed president

  • head of government

    • chief executive

    • can be executive president, prime minister, chancellor

    • head of government and head of state are same person in presidential systems but not in parliamentary systems

executives 3 main functions:

  1. intiating government action and formulating public policy (= decision-making)

  2. executing and implementing public policy

  3. coordinating the activities of the state

what is the relationship between legislatures and executives

3 systems:

  1. presidential systems

  • focus on independence between executive and legislature

  • both president and legislature directly elected

  • legislature cannot remove the president (= fixed tenure), except in cases of serious legal wrong-doing (impeachment)

  • president appoints cabinet but both aren’t accountable to legislature

  • head of state = head of government

  • in practice, president and legislature need to cooperate to get things done

  1. parliamentary systems

  • focus on mutual dependence between executive and legislature (fusion of power)

  • executive not directly elected but drawn from legilature

  • executive depends on support of legislature and is accountable/repsonsible to it

  • executive can dissolve the legislature and call an election

  • head of state ≠ head of government

  • executive collective body and members share government responsibilities but PM increasingly more powerful

  1. semi-presidential systems

  • mix 2 former systems

  • executive power shared between president and prime minister

    • president: appoints PM, dissolve parliament, dealing with emergency

    • PM:dealing with day-to-day affairs of state & domesti affairs

  • president directly elected, PM often appointed by president form elected legislature

  • PM appoints cabinet from legislature which is then accountable to legislature

  • president can dissolve legislature and call referendum

  • cohabitation: president and PM are of different parties

presidential vs parliamentary

  • presidential:

    • strong separation of power and direct accountability of executive

    • conflict between executive and legiltive may lead to deadlock. Weak presidents may try to make their office stronger

  • parliamentary:

    • fusion of executive and legislative can create stable and effective democracies

    • can also produce leaders with considerable power