Cabinet (Parliamentary) Form of Government

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“It has been said that one of the greatest political problems of the time is to reconcile representative institutions with good government.” With this problem in mind, the cabinet form of government, which is nearly synonymous with the parliamentary form of government, has been established to lessen the gap between representative institutions and good government or, if possible, make them one in the same through its unification of powers. Past forms of representative government have become extinct or severely troubled because of numerous weaknesses. The first problem of representative government that the cabinet system seeks to reconcile is the lack of cooperation between executive powers and legislative powers. This can happen when different parties control each branch of the government. This paralysis of government is seen as a danger to the cabinet system. Lack of cooperation can also occur because people of a country look to the executive as the leader, but he can often not have any power as a result of lack of cooperation from the legislative powers. Overall, there is a lingering inclination in representative government for the powers to become dissonant, thus rendering government unable to take any action. The cabinet system sees this gridlock as an entirely avoidable evil. In representative government, parties are often found. Perhaps the most prevalent danger in a party system is a party split, which paralyzes government just as much as a divergence of executive, legislative, and judicial powers in government. Another danger seen by the cabinet system is making the power of governance too removed from the people. The cabinet system sees taking the powers such as referendum from the citizenry as one of... ... middle of paper ... ...New York: Europa Publications, 2002), s.v. “Parliamentary Government.” Alice Sturgeis, The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure, 3rd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill Inc., 1993), 4-5. Sir Ivor Jennings, Cabinet Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951), 17-19. Ibid. Dormin J. Ettrude, The Reference Shelf: Cabinet Form of Government (New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1923), 21. Sir Ivor Jennings, Cabinet Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951), 1. Julia E. Johnsen, Cabinet Form of Government (New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1926), 55. Sir Ivor Jennings, Cabinet Government (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1951), 214-5. Ibid., 455-6. Ibid., 29-31 Ibid., 420. Vernon Bogdanor, ed., The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Institutions (New York: Basil Blackwell Inc., 1987), s.v. “Cabinet / Cabinet Government.”

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