equally important is the election of the president at the time of the assembly election. The head of the government is head of state: Whereas in pre-parliamentary monarchies the head of state was also the head of the government, in the presidential system it is the head of the government who becomes at the same time head of state. The president appoints heads of departments who are his subordinates: In parliamentarism the prime minister appoints his colleagues who together with him form the government. In presidential systems the president appoints secretaries, who are heads of his executive departments. The
How effectively does Congress fulfil its constitutional roles? To start of this essay we must first understand what the role of Congress actually is? The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two houses: the House of Representatives and the Senate. It is the law-maker which is the primary and most important function of the legislature. It is through laws that policies of government are laid down for implementation.
Firstly, legal sovereignty should be distinguished from political sovereignty. The former refers to the unrestricted legislative power of Parliament that this essay is primarily concerned with, while the latter refers to unlimited political power – this power lies in the electorate in democracies. Secondly, it is important to note that Parliament’s legislative supremacy lies only in the primary legislation borne out of the agreement of the three bodies, namely the House of Commons, the House of Lords and the Queen. Hence, it can be said that ‘whatever the Queen-in-Parliament
To what extent is it reasonable to describe modern British prime ministers as presidents in all but name? Few, if any, now doubt that the office of prime minister dominates the British political system. As long as the holder of that office is not faced by too many limiting factors, such as a small parliamentary majority or a divided party, the British system has moved away from the traditional ‘cabinet government’ model to a ‘prime ministerial’ model. We argue that the system has now become ‘presidential’. * PMs perform most of the functions of a head of state: The prime minister has come to be, effectively though not legally, the head of State, the leader of the nation, irrespective of party allegiance.
Single Party Influence in Germany and Russia Christian Russo Introduction The political structures of Germany and Russia are different but one trait they have in common is that they both use a multi-party system with one major party influencing government more than the rest. Russia is a unique government that can be viewed as a semi-Presidential state that uses a multi-party system to represent their government. On the other hand, Germany is a Parliamentary system but they also use a multi-party system within government. A multi-party system is one in which multiple political parties have the ability to take control of government, as a pose to one party taking sole control. Russia and Germany both have a multi-party system that is being controlled by one party, causing their distribution of authority to be slightly more concentrated than it should be.
Political culture is a reflection of the government, but also incorporates elements of history and tradition that may anticipate the current system. An example of this is - the United States and Great Britain which are both democracies, but each nation has a distinct political culture. Great Britain consists of a long history of feudalism and has never had a written constitution. (Contrasts between the American and British Political System, Roger Darlington, August 2013) Even though the current monarch holds the official title of head of state, the monarchy’s powers are nominal, leaving Parliament (the legislative body) as the dominant element of the government The American government, in contrast, derives its’ power from a written constitution drafted by men who feared monarchs and strong central governments, which is why the federal government was divided into three distinct branches.
* There are three levels of government that make legislation in Canada – the federal, provincial, and municipal levels -. The federal legislative branch, Parliament, is composed of the House of Commons and the Senate. * For legislation to become law, it must first be passed by the House of Commons and then be approved by the Senate. Because the Senate assesses the work of the House of Commons, it has been called "the chamber of sober second thought." * Each province also has a law-making body.
However the executive power can and has to be constrained to ensure a more democratic system of governance. It could be argued that in the US the executive has limited power on the domestic front whereas the UK executive is less constrained and appears to have significant power in most areas of political life. It is perhaps useful to start with saying what executive branches are made of in both liberal democracies that are being examined. In the UK the core executive includes the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and its committees, the Prime Minister’s office and the Cabinet Office. In the US the executive branch is associated with the President, the Vice President, Executive Departments, and Agencies.
This is the means by with parliament passes the government’s legislation. Parliament is almost the only source of legislation. When a party wins the general election, a government is formed consisting of various parties. This government then makes laws that become acts of parliament, the legislation thus having been passed by parliament. Most bills that are passed by parliament are government bills; however, some bills that are passed through parliament are private members bills.
In a presidential system, the president is both the head of the state as well as that of a government. Being the head of the state, he “presides at ceremonial functions and symbolizes the nation in the eyes of the rest of the world” (Mahler, 2008, p.106). As the head of the government, he is the chief of the executive branch who makes major political decisions and heads the cabinet. Also, under the system, the president is elected independently from the legislature and has an “independent power base” (Mahler, 2008, p.107). There is no overlap of personnel, and both branches are