Unit 7 Flashcards
The three main branches of government are
Legislature, the executive, and the judiciary
Primary functions of a legislature are:
The main roles of legislature are to make laws, to represent the people, and to debate public issues.
Legislatures also educate, institutionalize opposition, investigate issues and events, recommend new policies, scrutinize executive activities, legitimate executive policies, ratify or veto executive actions, refine and improve executive policies, provide alternative governments or political leaders, and so on.
In a Parlimentary system, as compared to a presidential system, the ability of the legislature to check the power of the executive is
Not as strong
Responsible government
refers to the fact that the government can only stay in power as long as it has the support – or CONFIDENCE - of a majority of the legislature. This is only an issue during what we call confidence votes.
Confidence vote
If the legislature votes against the government on confidence votes, then the government immediately falls. A vote of no-confidence, then, is a vote where the legislature EXPLICITLY states that it does not have confidence in the government.
3 ways a vote of confidence can take place are:
- a member of the legislature introduces a motion explicitly stating a lack of confidence
2.a government bill is introduced explicitly stating it is a matter of confidence - a vote on important measures central to government’s plans (i.e. budget…in Canada, money bills and budgets are ALWAYS confidence motions)
In a majority government (when one party holds all the seats in cabinet, and that party also holds the majority of the seats in the legislature), no-confidence votes are:
not that big a deal. The majority government can easily force its members to vote a certain way, and ensure that the legislature continues to have confidence in the government.
In a minority government (when one party holds all of the seats in cabinet but has less than 50% of the members of the legislature) a no-confidence vote is:
very important. A lot more negotiating needs to take place, as the government needs to work with the other parties in order to convince them to vote in favour of the government when it comes to issues of confidence.
Two Types of Legislatures
1.unicameral
2.bicameral
legislatures are legislatures that have one chamber only. Examples of this are Israel’s knesset, the Newfoundland House of Assembly, and New Zealand’s parliament.
Unicameral
legislatures that have two separate chambers or two houses. Examples of this are Canada, where the legislative branch of government consists of both the House of Commons and the Senate; the United States legislature, which consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. Usually, we call the two houses a lower house (like the House of Commons) and an upper house (like the Senate).
Bicameral
Providing representation is one of the main functions of legislatures. There are competing expectations to represent groups with different (and opposing) interests. These interests include:
-territorial/regional (community, constituency)
-non-territorial (who actually voted for the rep?)
-partisan
-economic
-social
one where we expect our legislators to figure out the will of the people that they represent, and then act on that basis - so they’re acting on behalf of those people.
The delegate model
one where we expect legislators to understand the opinions of those they represent, but they should use their own judgment about what position to take on an issue.
Trustee model
