Emerging Democracies Flashcards

Question

What is the lower house in India? Explain its main features

Answer 1

The lower house in the Indian political system is the Lok Sabha or House of the People. As set out in the Constitution, the maximum size of the Lok Sabha is 552 members, made up of up to 530 members representing people from the Union Territories, and two members to represent the Anglo-Indian community if it does not have adequate representation in the house according to the President. Each member, except the two nominated ones, represent a geographical single-member constituency as in the British model of the House of Commons.

Answer 2

Each Lok Sabha is formed for a five-year term, after which it is automatically dissolved, unless extended by a Proclamation of Emergency which may extend the term in one-year increments. This has happened on three occasions: 1962-1968; 1971; and 1975-1977.

Answer 3

The Upper House in the Indian political system is the Rajya Sabha or Council of States. As set out in the Constitution, the Rajya Sabha has up to 250 members. 12 of these members are chosen by the President for their expertise in specific fields of art, literature, science, and social services. These members are known as nominated members. The Rajya Sabha meets in continuous session and, unlike the Lok Sabha, it is not subject to dissolution.

Answer 4

Terms of office are for six years, with one third of the members facing re-election every two years.

Answer 5

The two houses share legislative powers, except in the area of supply money, where the Lok Sabha has overriding powers, In the case of conflicting legislation, a joint sitting of the two houses is held. If there is a conflict which cannot be resolved even by the joint committee of the two houses, it is solved in the joint session of the Parliament, where the will of the Lok Sabha almost always prevails, since the Lok Sabha is more than twice as large as the Rajya Sabha.

Answer 6

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in civil, criminal, and constitutional cases. Since 2008, the size of the court has been 31.

Answer 7

A judge is appointed to the Supreme Court by the President of India on the recommendation of the collegium, a closed group of the Chief of Justice of India, the four most senior judges of the court, and the senior-most judge hailing from the high court of a prospective appointee. However, a Bill is currently being considered which would provide that Supreme Court judges are appointed by the legislative branch with collegium functioning as an advisory body

Answer 8

It is based on Japan’s constitution, which was drafted after the end of World War II. Enacted on May 3rd, 1947, it firmly established a democracy in form of a constitutional monarchy, which, similar to the UK, maintained its long-standing imperial family as the honorary figurehead of the country.

Answer 9

The governmental power has been distributed between three branches: The National Diet, the Cabinet, and the judiciary sections of the government. These entities serve as the legislative, executive, and judiciary branches respectively.

Answer 10

Following WWII, the role of Japan’s imperial family has gone from one holding almost absolute power, to a figurehead and ambassador for the country on domestic and international affairs. According to the constitution, the Emperor carries out ceremonial duties, such as appointing the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court into office, and presenting distinguished awards from the government of Japan. Internationally, imperial family members serve as ambassadors of Japan, hosting high profile diplomats and guests from abroad, and visiting foreign nations on diplomatic missions. The current emperor of Japan is Naruhito since 2019.

Answer 11

The Prime Minister of Japan is the face of Japan’s acting government, driving domestic policy and guiding foreign diplomacy for the nation.

Answer 12

To be a prime minister of Japan, one must be a Japanese national, and also a standing member of the current National Diet.

Answer 13

Prime Ministers are not elected by a direct vote from citizens, but are appointed by the Diet. Therefore, whichever party holds control in the Diet will likely appoint their party leader to be the prime minister.

Answer 14

Shinzo Abe

Answer 15

The Cabinet, the managing bodies of Japan’s governmental agencies, is appointed directly by the incumbent prime minister. Most Cabinet positions, called ministers, are required to be filled by existing members of the Diet. Ministers of State oversee the 11 ministers of Japan, which are specialized bureaus that direct policy over specific aspects of the nation’s operations. In terms of accountability and maintaining their positions, the prime ministers and the Cabinet are directly responsible to the Diet.

Answer 16

The Diet of Japan consist of an upper house, The House of the Councilors, and a lower house. The House of Representatives. It is the highest level of state power in the country, and the only section of government that can enact new laws.

Answer 17

The Diet’s main functions include appointing the prime minister of Japan, approving the national budget, ratifying international treaties, and creating and implementing amendments to the constitution.

Answer 18

The Upper House, the House of the Councilors, consists of 242 members who serve 6-year terms. Elections for half of the houses are held every three years. • 146 members are voted into office directly from their local districts. • 96 of the members are preferred party members who are appointed into power via a proportional representation system based on the number of votes that were given to each political party.

Answer 19

The Lower House, the House of Representatives, consists of 480members who serve 4-year terms. • 300 members are voted into office directly from their local districts. • 180 members are preferred party members appointed via the proportional representation system.

Answer 20

The House of Representatives holds the highest authority of pushing bills into law. If the House of the Councilors rejects a bill, the House of Representatives can re-vote on the bill and enact it with a vote of two-thirds or higher in support.

Answer 21

The executive branch has the power to dissolve the House of Representatives, resulting in an election before their 4-year terms are over.

Answer 22

The judicial branch of Japan’s government consists of • The Supreme Court, with one chief judge and 14 Supreme Court judges • Four lower classes of courts o 8 courts o 50 district courts o 50 family courts o 438 summary courts

Answer 23

The position of chief judge of the Supreme Court is decided by the Cabinet but appointed by the Emperor through formal ceremony. The cabinet directly appoints the other 14 Supreme Court judges. All judges must be reviewed every 10 years after their appointment, and the retirement age is 70.

Answer 24

The Supreme Court deliberates upon the constitutionality of laws in the country, similar to their foreign counterparts in other democratic countries. Japan’s supreme court, however, will only rule on a case where an actual dispute has been raised from a lower court up to the Supreme Court.

Answer 25

No, because religious political parties blocked the adoption of a constitution at independence in 1948 and the project has never been completed: instead, there are 11 Basic Laws. In 2003, the parliament began to draft an official constitution based on these laws, but the project is not finished yet.

Answer 26

The head of the Israeli state is the president who is an apolitical ceremonial figurehead.

Answer 27

The head of the Israeli state is the president who is an apolitical ceremonial figurehead. The President is elected by the Knesset for a 7-year term and is limited to a single term.

Answer 28

The current president is Reuven Rivlin

Answer 29

The Prime Minister is normally the leader of the political party with the largest representation in the legislature, certainly of the political party with the largest representation in the governing coalition

Answer 30

Takes the place of the Prime Minister if the Prime Minister is temporarily incapacitated while the incumbent is still in office for a period up to 100 consecutive days. The holder of this position can additionally be head of a Government Department. In the current Cabinet, nobody has been appointed to this position.

Answer 31

They are honorary rather than official executive positions. In the current Cabinet, there are three Deputy Prime Ministers and four Vice-Prime Ministers.

Answer 32

The Prime Ministers appoints a Cabinet, the membership of which must be approved by the Knesset. Any new appointment to the Cabinet must similarly be approved by the Knesset. Most Ministers are members of the Knesset although only the Prime Ministers and the Designated Acting Prime Minister are formally required to be members.

Answer 33

Benjamin Netanyahu

Answer 34

Knesset, which consists of 120 members (MKs) elected for a maximum term of four years. In practice, Knesset terms rarely last the full four years and, since the 1988 election, no Knesset has finished its four-year term; the average is two years.

Answer 35

It is national system, this means that the whole country is in effect regarded as one constituency and voters, instead of choosing one candidate for their local constituency as I many countries, choose one list of candidates from a number of lists, each compiled and presented by a political party on a national level. Although nationalist systems do not have to operate this way, in Israel, closed lists are used which means that the party determines the order of the candidates on the list, and the most voters have no influence over or choice of that order.

Answer 36

The highest averages method requires the number of votes for each party to be divided successively by a series of divisors and seats are then allocated to parties that secure the highest resulting quotient or average, up to the total number of seats available. The d’Hondt formula is the most widely used fir list systems and involves using the divisors 1,2,3,4… This system tends to give larger parties a slightly larger proportion of seat than their portion of the electorate. Technically this would guarantee that a party with a majority of votes would receive at least half of the seats – except to party in Israeli elections ever secures a majority of votes.

Answer 37

The Supreme Court

Answer 38

The number of Supreme Court justices is determined by a resolution of the Knesset and is usually 12, but currently there are 15 Supreme Court Justices. Justices serve until the age of 70. Several leading figures in Likud and Jewish Home have called for legislation to limit the power of the Supreme Court to block legislation.

Answer 39

Supreme Court Justices, as well as other judges, art appointed by the President of the nomination of Judicial Appointments Panel. This Committee is composed of 9 members:3 Justices of the Supreme Court, including the President of the Court; 2 Ministers, one of them being the Minister of Justice; 2 members of the Knesset; and 2 representatives of the Israel Bar Association.

Answer 40

The Minister of Justice is the chairperson of the Committee.

Answer 41

Because there has only been votes for all since 1994; because one party has dominated power all that time winning easily all five general elections

Answer 42

South Africa is a parliament republic, although unlike most such republics the President is both head of state and head of government, and depends for his tenure on the confidence of Parliament.

Answer 43

The President, Deputy President and the Ministers make up the executive branch of the national government

Answer 44

Members of Parliament who are appointed by the President to head the various departments of the national government.

Answer 45

The President is not directly elected but elected by the Parliament members. He is, unusually, both head of state and head of the government and depends for his tenure on the continued confidence of Parliament.

Answer 46

Since the overthrow of apartheid and the introduction of universal suffrage, South Africa has had five Presidents, all from the African National Congress (ANC): Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe, Jacob Zuma, and Cyril Ramaphosa.

Answer 47

The Lower House of the Parliament of South Africa is called the National Assembly. It consists of 400 members who are elected every 5 years using a party-list proportional representation system where half of the members ae elected proportionally from 9 provincial lists and the remaining half, from national lists, so as to provide an overall allocation of sets which is proportional to the votes cast for each political party. Parties decide whether they want to set up both national and regional list or only regional list. It is located in Cape Town in Western Cape Province

Answer 48

The Upper House of the Parliament of South Africa is called the National Council of Provinces. It consists of 90 members with each of the 9 provincial legislatures electing 10 members. This means that each of the 9 provinces has equal representation in the Council, regardless of the population Each provincial delegation consists of 6 permanent delegates, who are nominated for a term that lasts until a new provincial legislature is elected, and 4 special delegates. One of the special delegates is the province’s Premier, or another member of the provincial legislature designated by the Premier, and the other three special delegates are designated by the provincial legislature. The party representation in the delegation must proportionally reflect the party representation in the provincial legislature. As with the National Assembly, the National Council of Provinces is located in Cape Town in Western Cape Province

Answer 49

The judicial system consists of the magistrates’ courts, which hear lesser criminal cases and smaller civil cases; the High Courts, which are courts of general jurisdiction for specific areas; the Supreme Court of Appeals, which is the highest court in all but constitutional matters; and the Constitutional Court, which hears only constitutional matters.

Answer 50

The Supreme Court of Appeals is located in Bloemfontein. The Constitutional Court sits in Johannesburg, a different location from the government capital, the parliament capital, and the judicial capital

Brainscape's Knowledge GenomeTM

Emerging Democracies Flashcards

Brainscape's Knowledge Genome^TM