Topic: Politics in Brazil and Germany
The two nation-states of Brazil and Germany differ in many ways: economically, politically and socially. Germany's powerful economy, rich and wealthy society, and efficient government have put the country as a leader in the international scene. On the other hand, Brazil is still yet to emerge as a true democracy and is faced with a lot of problems. This paper is focused on political differences that both of the states have.
Section 1 – Comparison of the electoral systems
• The executive
Brazil is officially a democratic federative republic. A president or head of state is elected for a four year term, with the possibility of one additional sequential term. The president is chosen by an absolute majority of votes and she is both the head of state and the head of government. The current president is Dilma Rousseff, who comes from the Worker's Party and the vice president Michel Temer who comes from the Democratic Movement Party.
Germanys’ head of state is the President but is just a ceremonial position, elected for a maximum of two five-year terms. The voters in the election for President are known collectively as the Federal Convention, which consists of all members of the Legislature and an equal number of members nominated by the state legislatures - a total of 1,244. The current President is Joachim Gauck. The head of the government is the Chancellor. The current Chancellor is Angela Merkel of the CDU. The chancellor is elected every four years by a majority of the members of the Bundestag (legislative body) upon the proposal of the President and cannot be dismissed by a vote of no confidence. The government is carried out by a Cabinet, the members of which are formally appointed by the...
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... other 299 seats are allocated to candidates elected by party lists. The party vote is critical because it determines the percentage of seats each party wins in the lower house, which in turn selects the chancellor. To share in the division of seats, a party must win 5 percent of the second type of vote or have at least three directly elected lawmakers. However, if any one party wins more seats through the direct vote than it would be allotted under the distribution based on the party vote, the system allows that party to keep the extra seats. Once the votes have been counted, the President will propose a chancellor to Parliament. That candidate needs to secure a majority of all lawmakers in the lower house to take office. If lawmakers fail to give a majority to one candidate in three tries, the president could appoint a minority government or dissolve Parliament.
Brazil is the largest country in South America and in Latin America, fifth largest in the world. It is one of the more diverse countries in the world, with different cultures and ethnicities. Brazil’s type of government is a Federal Republic. Brazil is on its way to growing out of its emerging market status and becoming one of the richest and most developed countries on earth. Brazil’s human, mineral, and agricultural resources are on par with those of the United States and Canada, and it has a few great opportunities to take advantage of in order to continue the growth it’s been experiencing over the past 20 years. Brazil, known for its natural resources, find in energy one of the country’s main ways of resources, being either oil and natural gas or biofuels and solar/wind power.
Globalisation has been crucial to the economic and social development of Brazil. In the late twentieth century Brazil face years of economic, political and social instability experiencing high inflation, high income inequality and rapidly growing poverty. However after a change of government in the 1990s and large structural changes in both the economic and social landscapes, the brazilian economy has been experiencing a growing middle class and reduced income gap. Since the start of the 21st century, brazil has benefitted from the move to a more global economy.
Larry Rohter was a journalist in Brazil for 14 years and from his experiences he offers in this book some unique insights into Brazilian history, politics, culture and more. In 10 topical chapters Rohter’s easy-to-read book provides a look at Brazilian history and the extraordinary changes the country has undergone -- and is still undergoing. Rother covers many significant issues, but several stand out more than others. Namely: the country’s history, culture, politics, and finally its economy/natural wealth.
Australia is currently a constitutional monarchy, meaning that the Queen is our current head of state. We also have a written constitution, which limits the Queen and other authorities power. The governor general, who is appointed on the advice of the prime minister, represents the Queen.
The constitution also allowed for the Kaiser to appoint and dismiss the Chancellor of Germany, a very powerful position in its own right, at will. The Kaiser also possessed the ability to dissolve the German Parliament, the Reichstag, with the approval of the Bundesrat, the German equivalent of the House of Lords, where 58 members represented the 25 federal states of Germany. This meant that if the Kaiser disagreed with the views held in the Reichstag, he could dismiss all members and call for new elections. However, there is no example of Wilhelm II ever exercising this power. The Kaiser was also able to completely ignore the views of the Reichstag if he wished to do so, allowing for him to more or less dictate German politics, as legislation only required the approval of both himself and the Chancellor to become
So, what happens after a party wins? It has been observed, “Legislative seats almost always work to benefit the party winning the most votes” (Tufte, 1973). If the share of the votes increases, the share of the seats increases, and in most elections the winning party still will probably have less than 65% of the vote. The theory of the Cube Law says that the vote odds equal the seat odds, and that the outcomes of the votes to seats ratio will be predictable no matter what (Tufte, 1973). Although this Law has not necessarily predicted a correct outcome in every election since its birth, it should be noted that its accuracy around the whole world is higher than in just specific
The current plurality voting system in Canada is regularly attacked for unfairly representing the popular vote and giving some parties a disproportionate amount of legislative power while leaving others with none. Opponents contend that other electoral systems would be far superior and provide a better democracy. Proportional representation (PR) is usually cited as the best alternative; the debate of proportional representation versus plurality often hinges on the balance between fairness and efficiency. Without attempting the political calculus to determine the rate at which fairness should be sacrificed for efficiency, this paper will address the very claim that PR is more fair than the plurality system. The proponents contend that PR is a more accurate representation of the electorate's vote, that no votes are wasted, and that the will of the people translates into government better than the plurality system; however, the experience of New Zealand challenges that assertion. This paper will establish that the current plurality system produces a government that is more effective, better represents the people, and is more transparent than the proposed alternatives, namely proportional representation.
...s vote for a party instead for an individual, and when the votes are tallied for the region the regional representative seats for that region are divided among the parties in proportion to the share of the vote that each party received.
Filh, Alfredo Saad. "Neoliberalism, Democracy, and Development Policy in Brazil." DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIETY June 2010: 1-28.
Introduction Brazil is the largest and most populous country in South America. It is the 5th largest country worldwide in terms of both areas (more than 8.5 Mio. km2) and inhabitants (appr. 190 million).
In 1822, Brazil became a nation independent from Portugal. By far the largest and most populous country in South America, Brazil has overcome more than half a century of military government to pursue industrial and agricultural growth and development. With an abundance of natural resources and a large labor pool, Brazil became Latin America's leading economic power by the 1970’s. Brazil is located in Eastern South America, bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It is slightly smaller than the U.S., with bordering countries Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, French Guyana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The impracticality of the policy of proportional representation (PR), was one particular internal weakness of the Weimar government which led to its eventual loss of support among the people. The policy was put in place in an attempt to pursue democracy to its utmost, by granting seats to every party in proportion to the percentage of popular vote received. Ideally, this would allow for more interests to be represented, and that no individual could ever gain complete power. Ironically, its theoretical strength was also its Achilles' heel. The implementation of the PR led to the proliferation of small parties, which were oftentimes regional, narrow, or one-issue political parties. In 1928, 31 parties were on the ballot, and though the small parties did not have much influence, they disrupted proceedings and made the major parties appear incapable of maintaining order. One way they did so could be exemplified by the numerous problems with forming coalitions which invariably surfaced. With the sheer number of parties and the ...
Brazil is both the fifth largest country in the world based off of land size and population (World Factbook). Brazil has used this demographic as a strength in its efforts to find some sort of stability in a very unstable economic climate. Brazil is the largest national economy in Latin America the world's eighth largest economy at market exchange rates and the and 10 in purchasing power parity (PPP) or GDP, according to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (World Fact Book). There are many factors to the development of the Brazilian economy, each having an impact, but the development is not complete.
2. Burns, Bradford E. . A History of Brazil: Second Edition. New York: Cornell University Press, 1980.
Pinheiro P. S., 2002, The Paradox of Democracy in Brazil vol. III, issue 1, University of Sao Paulo