Legislatures and Executives

1
Legislatures and Executives

• October 27

2
Role of Legislatures

• Legislature as agent linkage, representation,
  debating and legitimation
• Legislature as principal control, oversight and
  budget control
• Legislature as legislator policy-making vs.
  policy-influencing (consultation, delay, veto,
  amendment, initiation)

3
Systems of government

• presidential
• parliamentary
• semi-presidential

4
Presidential Systems

• Division of powers between executive and
  legislature.
• A directly elected executive that serves as head
  of government and head of state for a fixed term.
• Legislature elected for fixed term.
• President may initiate legislation but remains
  reliant upon legislature for passage of laws.

5
Presidential Systems - Examples

• USA
• very common in Central and South America
  Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia,
  Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
  Salvador, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela.
• African systems including Benin, Ghana, Liberia
  Namibia, Malawi, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra
  Leone, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia.
• Asian countries including South Korea,
  Philippines.

6
Presidential Systems

• Special case Switzerland
• Switzerland has a collective presidency formed by
  the seven members of the Federal Council
  (Bundesrat), one being selected to be the formal
  president each year.

7
Parliamentary Systems

• Fusion of executive and legislative powers.
• The executive (Prime Minister or equivalent and
  cabinet) is drawn from the elected members of the
  legislature.
• That executive must retain the confidence or
  support of the legislature.
• While the PM serves as head of government, they
  do not act as head of state.

8
Parliamentary Systems - Examples

• UK and many members of the Commonwealth,
  including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India,
  Jamaica, Botswana, Mauritius.
• Common in Western Europe Germany, Italy,
  Austria, Spain, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland,
  Netherlands, Norway, Sweden
• Japan, Bangladesh, Malaysia

9
Parliamentary Systems

• Special case Israel. 1996-2001
• Israel had a parliamentary system but with a
  directly elected president. Unlike the president
  in a presidential system however, the Israeli
  president could be removed by the legislature.
• Special case South Africa
• In post-apartheid South Africa, the leader of the
  party with the most seats in the legislature is
  selected as President (meaning they are not
  directly elected) and serves a five year term.

10
Parliamentary Heads of State

• Constitutional Monarchies
• Indigenous Monarchy Belgium, Denmark, Japan,
  Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Netherlands,
  Norway, Samoa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, UK.
• Commonwealth countries that recognize British
  Monarch as Head of State Antigua and Barbuda,
  Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada,
  Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea,
  Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent
  and the Grenadines, the Solomon Islands and
  Tuvalu.

11
Parliamentary Heads of State

• Parliamentary Republics with a largely symbolic
  President as Head of State (either directly
  elected or chosen by national legislature)
  Albania, Austria, Bangladesh, Czech Republic,
  Dominica, Estonia, Finland (since 2000), Germany,
  Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Israel (since
  2001), Italy, Latvia, Malta, Mauritius, Moldova,
  Slovakia, Slovenia, Trinidad and Tobago, and
  Vanuatu.

12
Parliamentary Heads of State

• Parliamentary Republics with a President as Head
  of State and having moderate political powers
  Bulgaria, Croatia, East Timor, Ireland,
  Lithuania, Macedonia, Mongolia, Poland, Portugal,
  Romania, Taiwan, Turkey.
• Parliamentary Republics with a President as Head
  of State and very significant political powers
  (semi-presidential systems) Cape Verde,
  France (since 1958), Georgia, Kenya (formerly
  presidential, but semi-presidential since 2008),
  Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Peru, São
  Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal. Common in
  post-Communist Eastern Europe e.g. Russia,
  Ukraine, Belarus, Poland.

13
Semi-Presidential System

• Includes a directly elected President.
• The President appoints the Prime Minister from
  the elected members of the legislature. The PM
  can also be removed by the President.
• The Prime Minister appoints the cabinet from the
  elected members of the legislature.
• The PM and cabinet must retain the confidence or
  support of the legislature.
• The President and PM share executive power.

14
Presidential vs. Parliamentary

• Overall, each system has certain tendencies, but
  there is also much variation within each model.
• The variations in characteristics are influenced
  by specific institutional variations involved
  within the two major groupings and the variations
  in the electoral and party systems.

15
Women in Legislatures

• Inter-Parliamentary Union ranking of legislatures
  by proportion of female legislators
• http//www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm