Presidential and Parliamentary Government

Chapter 5: Presidential and Parliamentary Government §

🏦 UK best of Parliamentary government US best of Presidential government

1. Presidential System §

president directly elected by the people

Qualities:

• limited term of office (2 terms max)

  Exception: Unless they are very popular to be given another chance

• general responsibility for affairs of state

President’s executive power is balanced by legislature (independent from president)

• Legislature is directly elected by people as well

Four Main Features §

• 1. Head of state and government:
  • president as international representation
  • in charge of executive branch
  • chief of armed forces: can declare war
  • head of national civil service: policies are response to the people
  • in charge of foreign policy and domestic legislation
• 2. Execution of Policy: appoint cabinets to advise them and run bureaucracy
• 3. Dependence of the legislative branch: initiate legislation (need legislature support)
• 4. Fixed tenure: elected for a fixed term and can be removed
  • directly elected for a fixed term
  • exception in circumstances to be removed by legislature

Relationship between executive and legislative §

Checks and Balances: both bodies are independent authority from popular election

Problem: division of power creates political deadlock/immobilism/gridlock for the president, no decision is made

Ex: democrat holds presidency, republican holds legislature ⇒ gridlock, can be solved by new election

Advantages §

• Separation of executive and legislative institutions
• Direct election of president: accountable to be unelected
• A check on “majority rule” aspect of legislatures makes it not as powerful
• National mandate: limited term of presidency

Disadvantages §

• Conflict executive $\leftrightarrows$ legislative ⇒ gridlock
• Difficult to remove unpopular president
• Few presidential systems have survived long

2. parliamentary System §

Four Main Features §

1. directly elected legislative body
2. fused executive and legislative institutions
   • party leader of the body???
3. executive emerges from the legislature and is responsible to the people together
4. separation of head of state and head of government
   • Head of state: Monarch
   • Head of Government: Prime Minister

Relationship between executive and legislature §

1. Prime Minister: is leader of the party with most support in parliament

2. Prime Minister forms cabinet from members of parliament

   ⇒ Cabinet forms the core of government

3. The government is dependent on support of parliament: parties must work together to pass anything

Advantages §

• Stable democracy: no deadlock
  • party fragmentation → prime minster dissolve parliament
  • parliament could vote of no-confidence to remove prime minister
• Strong and effective government from fusion of executive and legislative bodies
• Direct chain of accountability
  • Voters → parliament → cabinet → prime minister

Disadvantages §

• Concentration of power: creates rushed decisions without checks
  • Loyal to party member rather than the people
• Parliamentary system without legislative majority can be weak and unstable
  • Party fragmentation

3. Semi-Presidential System §

Found in French Fifth Republic (1958) created Semi-Presidential System because suffered from chronic instability caused by party fragmentation

Government: president + prime minister

• President: directly elected by universal suffrage
• President appointed by a prime minster from the elected legislature
• President & Prime Minister ?

President Powers §

• Appoint and dismiss PM
• Dissolve parliamentary and call referendum
• Call emergency and substantial power to deal with it

Semi-Presidential Systems adopted by new Democracies because

• Newly independent states want strong center figure of executive power to overcome party fragmentation

Advantages §

• PM provide cover for faults of president
• legislature ability to remove unpopular prime ministers with stable fixed terms
• additional checks and balances between PM and President

Disadvantages §

• Confusion of accountability: difficult for people to evaluate performance of government, president, or prime minister

• Confusion and inefficiency in legislative process

  Conflict to power struggle between

  • Prime minister $\leftrightarrows$ Cabinet
  • Prime minister $\leftrightarrows$ President

4. Presidential, Parliamentary, and Semi-Presidential System Compared §

Theories of Systems of Government §

Problem: Power balance between

• Democracy: protection of people’s fundamental rights and accountability to people
• Government Power: power and influence for policy formation

Semi-presidential system §

too little information or cases of this system

New democracies $\stackrel{\text{transforming}}{\to }$ parliamentary systems