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parliamentary system vs presidential system
parliamentary system vs presidential system
parliamentary system vs presidential system
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Since the 1950s there has been a rise in the power of the Prime Minister, specially Crossman in 1962 and Benn, who in 1979 referred to “a system of personal rule in the very heart of our Parliamentary democracy”. As Britain has remained the “world’s most successful representative democracy”. The role of the executive has significantly increased at a great deal since the end of World War 2, however, the outward dangers of a supplementary individual hegemony attached to the Prime Minister shouldn’t be overemphasized. Although the modern examples of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair whose styles of leadership have each been labelled as presidential. In this essay I will be assessing the four main prime minister’s power and if his or her powers constrained under the British system. For instances, the power of patronage, cabinet power, the party leadership and the mass media. These are four main factors of the prime minister and its effectiveness can be argued.
The fundamental power of the prime minister is the “power of patronage”, meaning the capability to appoint and sack, encourage and relegate all ministers in the government. This reinforces the power of the prime minister in two approaches: the prime minister can ensure the appointment and promotion of loyal supporters and “especially of politicians who share his or her political or ideological preference”. This suggests that the rivals, critics or political opponents can be circumscribed from the government and put into lower positions. Also as the prime minister regulators their governmental careers, it ensures that the ministers and back benches cooperate together in order to remain loyal and supportive. As they serve under the prime ministers will, this gives the prime ministe...
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...so the mass media plays a significant role in prime ministers power, as it enables political information to flow to the society and most importantly it is under the government’s control, therefore the prime minister can structure the news before it is established on the newspapers. However, having a bad communication with the mass media may lead you to look as an unsuccessful leader that lacks skills and this can overall damage your image. Overall, as I have explained the Prime Minister Lack power under the system he operates due to the other factors that have taken more power over the prime minister. A call for an action is necessary as the system no longer seems stable, many of the people who stand on behalf of us are under a party loyalty and party discipline system, and therefore they cannot express their interest in case it contradicts to the party’s ideology.
The Role and Powers of the UK Prime Minister Explain the factors which limit the way his/her power can be exercised
In Mellon’s article, several aspects are mentioned supporting the belief that the prime minister is too powerful. One significant tool the prime minister possesses is “… the power to make a multitude of senior governmental and public service appointments both at home and abroad,” (Mellon 164). Mellon goes on to state the significance the prime minister has when allowed to appoint the government’s key member...
For the MPs in Canada, party discipline is the core for their actions. For them, collective responsibility plays a big part in their agenda. As a party, they are held responsible for any decision that their party makes, and are expected to defend it at any given point of time. For a majority government, party discipline becomes an even more important issue as it is directly related to the term of the Prime Minister (PM). Under the rule of maintaining the confidence of the House, the PM must gain the support of the House in order to stay in his role. This is where high party discipline comes into place. With it, the PM will not have to worry about being dismissed by the Governor General. Should the high party discipline deteriorate and gives away into a low one, such as the one in the States, the government will be in a constant potential risk of collapsing into paralysis. Once the leader of the cabine...
...r votes elect individuals who will represent their values and interests. While many will argue between whether a minority or majority government better represents Canadians, this essay has shown that regardless of the type of government, the Prime Minister is able to use his power to control his MP’s, media, and opposition members in order to fulfill a personal or hidden agenda. The sheer manipulation that is possible by a Prime Minister completely undermines the transparency and accountability of true democracy.
As the leader of the majority party, the Prime Minister of Canada acts as the spokesperson for the party, alongside appointing and allocating Members of Parliament and their responsibilities (Matheson, 2012). Additionally, the Prime Minister extends their powers to the Crown, whereby they nominate a candidate to the role of the Governor General. Meanwhile, the Governor General is responsible for the appointment of judges to Canada’s Supreme Court, upon the advice of the Prime Minister (Library of Parliament, 2013). Hence, the Prime Minister probes in virtually every branch of the Canadian government. It is quite unambiguous then, that the Canadian Prime Minister’s spearheading of the government at the federal level makes them too powerful. In fact, O’Malley’s study found that out of twenty-two parliamentary democracies surveyed across the globe, Canada’s Prime Minister had the most prime ministerial power (2007). Moreover, while the Canadian constitution comprises of binding conventions that constrain the exercise of legislative power by the government, the courts do not ordain these conventions (Leishman, 2005). To elaborate further, in order to mitigate the power held by the Canadian Prime Minister, party discipline should be abated in order to allow for Members of Parliament to efficaciously represent their constituents, and the three branches of government should be separated exclusively to prevent the engulfment of the Prime Minister’s influence upon every aspect of the government.
Paun Akash, Robert Hazell, Andrew Turnball, Alan Beith, Paul Evans, and Michael Crick. "Hung Parliaments and the Challenges for Westminster and Whitehall: How to Make Minority and Multiparty Governance Work (with Commentaries by Turnbull, Beith, Evans and Crick)." in Political Quarterly Vol 81, Issue 2: 213-227.
The Prime Minister is the Head of Government in Canada. Almost always, the Prime Minister is also the leader in the House of Commons, the assembly of ‘common’ people elected by the population to run government. Multiple steps are required to select a Prime Minister. First, there must be a vote of party members at a national convention that decide who will be their leader. If their party is already in power, or holds the majority of seats within Parliament, the chosen leader will assume the role of Prime Minister immediately. If not, the leader must lead the party through a successful election process to become Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is not elected directly by the entire population through the election. He or she is elected in an indirect manner when his or her party wins an election with the most seats in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister can lead the country for a maximum of five years before another election. However, historically and by tradition, most will call an election within four years depending on their perceived standing among the voters. If after four years, they feel that they are still held in high regard by the general public, and it is probable that they will maintain or enhance their power in government, the likelihood of calling...
This essay has argued that there are many limitations that the Prime Minister is subjected too. The three most important are federalism in Canadian society, the role of the Governor General, and the charter of rights and freedoms. I used two different views of federalism and illustrated how both of them put boundaries on the Prime Minister’s power. Next I explain the powers of the governor general, and explained the ability to dissolve parliament in greater detail. Last I analyzed how the charter of rights of freedoms has limited the Prime Minister’s power with respect to policy-making, interests groups and the courts. The Prime Minister does not have absolute power in Canadian society, there are many infringements on the power that they have to respect.
Within parliamentary systems, the government i.e. the legislature consist of the political party with the most popularly elected Members of Parliament (MPs) in the main legislative parliament e.g. the House of Commons in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister is appointed by the party to lead as the executive decision-maker, and the legislature work to support and carry out their will (Fish, 2006). In presidential systems, the President is directly elected with the support of their political party, with the legislative being separately elected and, in the case of the United States, being made up of representatives from different states (BIIP, 2004). This essay will provide examples to suggest that Presidents are generally more powerful than Prime Ministers. As two of the oldest forms of parliamentary and presidential governments (Mainwaring and Shugart, 1997), the United Kingdom and the United States will be the main focus of this essay, but other parliamentary and presidential countries will be mentioned.
On one hand, political constitutionalists argue that parliamentary sovereignty is the underlying principle in the British constitution as power and law making are bo...
One of the most influential and celebrated scholars of British consistutional law , Professor A.V Dicey, once declared parliamentary soverignity as “the dominant feature of our political insitutions” . This inital account of parliamentray soverginity involved two fundamental components, fistly :that the Queen-in-Parliament the “right to make or unmake any law whatever” and that secondly “no person or body is recognised by the law of England as having a right to override or set aside the legislation of Parliament.” . However this Diceyian notion though an established principle of our constitution now lies uneasy amongst a myriad of contemporary challenges such as our membership of the European Union, the Human Rights Act and a spread of law making authority known as ‘Devolution’. In this essay I shall set out to assess the impact of each of these challenges upon the immutability of the traditional concept of parliamentary sovereignty in the British constitution.
I will be attempting to evaluate and analyse the term of Thatcherism'. I will raise issues and introduce her consensus and strategies as a PM. To what extent or degree has the Thatcher government dominated British politics.
The concept of parliamentary political system was rooted in 1707 of Great Britain; the word derives from ‘parley’, a discussion. It was used to describe meetings between Henry III and noblemen in the Great Council (Szilagyi, 2009). It was originated in British political system and is often known as the Westminster model as it was used in the Palace of Westminster. It became influential throughout many European nations later in the 18th century (Smith, 2010). Countries with parliamentary systems are either constitutional monarchies such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, Australia, and Canada or parliamentary republics such as Greece, India, Ireland and Italy (McTeer, 1995). The parliamentary type of government is known for its three distinctive features; first, executive is divided into the head of state and the head of government, they are independently elected forming a dual executive; second, the fusion of ...
be necessary to take a brief look at the history of the office of the
The monarchy symbolizes unity and traditions, which is unique and treasured to the nation. The monarch universally known as head of the Commonwealth, she is voluntarily recognised as the Head of State to 54 independent countries (The British Monarchy, 2013) The Queen to modern Britain, is an icon, who cannot simply be swapped for an elected politician. The British monarchy has played huge importance in British history, which is integral to our national identity. The Queen reined for 61 years and she provides an existing connection between the past, present and future. This is exactly what a politician could not offer to the public; for instance, Tony Blair, prior to 1997 was unknown on a state level, as he had done nothing significant for the British public. The monarchy’s traditions are famous not only in the United Kingdom but throughout the world. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is the ruler of sixteen other countries including Britain. Whilst the queen receives many privileges as head of state, it does come at a personal cost. Her privacy is limited as she is consistently scrutinized from t...