4: Forms of Government Flashcards
What is the form of government?
The form of government looks upon the relationship between constitutional bodies and how power is distributed among them.
What are Elgie’s 3 dispositional properties used to classify forms of government?
- Whether there is both a head of state and a head of government
- Whether or not the incumbents of these institutions are popularly elected
- Whether the incumbents serve for a fixed term
What is a parliamentary executive?
Has both head of state and head of government as separate bodies
- Head of state: Either a monarch or elected by Parliament
- Head of government: Appointed by head of state, must be someone with parliamentary majority
Exists a relationship of confidence:
- Parliament provides confidence in the head of state
- Government has dissolution capabilities
Parliamentary Executive: What is the historical evolution of the form of government in the UK?
How did the UK solve the instabilities inherent to the parliamentary system?
This evolution happened as a matter of political expediency and constitutional practice rather than by law
1782: PM Lord North lost vote of no confidence and resigned; King had to appoint a PM with majority in parliament
1832: Parliament approved Reform Act, causing struggle between Parliament and the Monarch
1834: King dismissed PM and replaced with a PM who did not have majority in parliament - this new PM had to resign and the King had to reappoint the old PM
“Fixed-term” Parliament Act 2011:
- Parliamentary elections had to happen every 5 years
- Parliament can no longer be dissolved by royal proclamation
- Government can be dissolved in only 2 cases
Parliamentary Executive:
The Italian System (Head of State)
- Constitutional provisions are vague, thus the position and power of the head of state (President) depend on his interpretation
Presidential election occurs during a Parliament joint session: 2 houses of Parliament and 3 regional delegates vote until an absolute majority is reached
Tripartition of Presidential Acts
- Substantially Governmental: President provides content
- Substantially Presidential: Government provides content
- Substantially Complex Acts: Both decide on content mutually
President’s powers include:
- Ability to appoint constitutional judges without objection
- Ability to appoint life senators
- Power to send legislation back to Parliament (however, Parliament has no obligation to amend the legislature)
Parliamentary Executive:
What is the German example a constructive vote of no confidence?
Article 67:
- Bundestag expresses lack of confidence in Federal Chancellor by (1) electing a successor by majority vote and (2) requesting the Federal President to dismiss the Chancellor
- President must comply and appoint the person elected
Article 68:
- Chancellor can ask for a vote of confidence after Article 67
- If this vote is not supported by majority of the Bundestag, the Chancellor can ask the President to dismiss the house
- However, this motion can be lapsed if the Bundestag elects another Chancellor by majority vote
These systems work as strong deterrents.
What is a presidential executive?
Head of state and head of government coincide in one position, the President, who is elected directly by the people.
Lack of relationship of confidence:
- Therefore, the incumbent serves a fixed-term
- White House and Congress are separate bodies that are elected by the people, making it difficult for Parliament to dismiss the Head of State due to legitimization
Presidential Executive:
What is the US electoral college function, and how does it function?
The electoral college is the system through which the president is elected.
- Electors are chosen by a popular vote on a state-by-state basis
Parliament is split between two houses:
- Senate (100 senators, 2 per state)
- House of Representatives (total 435, number per state is dependent on population)
- Total of 535 electors who vote for the president
If the vote fails and electoral college majority is not reached, the 10th amendment comes into play: the President and Vice-President will be appointed by congress.
Presidential candidates are selected through either:
- Primaries: Run by state governments
- Caucuses: Run by political policies
Degree of openness of primaries:
- Closed: Only members of the party can vote
- Open: Any party can vote for the others primaries
- Semi-closed: Any party can vote but have to register with the party for which they wish to vote on on the day of the election
What is a semi-presidential executive?
Borrows elements from both Parliamentary and Presidential Executives.
France:
Both head of state and head of government exist
- Head of state: Directly elected
- Head of government: Appointed by the head of state; does not serve fixed-term
- Both heads have executive powers, unlike in Parliamentary Executives
Relationship of confidence exists:
- Head of state serves fixed-term, head of government does not
- Head of state has the power of dissolution
Semi-Presidential Executive:
What is France’s semi-presidential executive?
- Prior to adopting a semi-presidential executive recently, France was a parliamentary executive
1946: France adopted the constitution of the Fourth Republic, which was a parliamentary executive one
- Inconsistent and chaotic government
1958: Current constitution was enacted and Fifth Republic was born
- Current government was founded by De Gaulle
1962: Through a presidential referendum, the direct election of president was introduced
- The subsequent amendment procedure, however, breached the Constitution, but as the referendum expressed the will of the people, there was no breach of confidence
Semi-presidential Executive:
What is cohabitation, and how does France deal with this scenario?
Cohabitation is a scenario where the head of state and the head of government belong to different parties.
- The President does not belong to the majority party in Parliament
- The government formed by the President follows a different party than the majority party of Parliament
- This happens because there exists two executive heads
- Country behaves more like a parliamentary executive, with an advantage to the head of state
France:
- Occurred 3 times since 1958
- Constitutional reform in 2000: Term of president was shortened to make it possible to have presidential and legislative elections in the same year
What are the 3 sub-classifications of a semi-presidential executive?
- System where PM prevails
- System which is based on a diarchy/clear separation of competences between (1) the PM and his government and (2) the president
- System where the president plays a central role
Semi-Presidential Executive:
What is the Bulgarian Paradox?
- This case underlies the care in constitutions that contain self-definitions.
Article 1: Underlines Bulgaria as a republic with a parliamentary executive
Article 93: States that the head of state (President) is elected directly by the voters
- In parliamentary executives, the head of state should instead be appointed by the head of government
Since there is predominance of the president, the government functions more like a semi-presidential executive
What is a directorial executive?
- Exclusive to Switzerland
- Introduced through the French Revolution
- Head of government and head of state coincide
- State and government coincide into a Federal Council comprised of 7 people, who are selected by Parliament and serve a fixed-term
- No relationship of confidence between Parliament and Federal Council
- Prior to 2005, the same number of seats in Parliament were given to the 7 heads
- 2005: Number of seats allocated could increase based on the political climate
What is a neo-parliamentary executive?
Head of state and head of government are separate bodies.
- Head of government: PM and Parliament are elected directly by the people, not appointed by head of state; do not serve fixed-terms
- Head of state: May exist, carrying ceremonial functions; serve for a fixed-term
Relationship of confidence -dissolution exists where the state can dissolve the government and Parliament can withdraw confidence.
- Based on the principle of “we stand together, we fall together”, thus the election of the Parliament and head of government must happen at the same time
1. Resignation of PM would mean also that of the President
2. Withdrawal of confidence would automatically dissolve the house
This makes Parliament more accountable for its power of confidence (more stability)
Israel:
- Tried this system for more than 9 years, moved to a parliamentary executive
- There is a split vote where two ballots exist, one for Parliament and the other for PM
- The PM (the person people voted for) may not have majority in Parliament (the party people voted for), thus weakening the PM
Italy:
Regional heads that are elected by the people have the same level of power as the PM
