1 / 10

Objective

Objective. State the implications of presidential and parliamentary systems on democracy and the policy-making process. Prime Minister Gordon Brown. President Barack Obama. Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems of Government. Presidential President elected by the citizens Parliamentary

roth-serrano
Download Presentation

Objective

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Objective State the implications of presidential and parliamentary systems on democracy and the policy-making process. Prime Minister Gordon Brown President Barack Obama

  2. Presidential vs. Parliamentary Systems of Government • Presidential • President elected by the citizens • Parliamentary • Prime Minister (PM) selected by the majority party in Parliament

  3. Presidential vs. Parliamentary • Presidential: • Separation of Powers: Executive & Legislative • President and Cabinet are not members of the legislature. • Parliamentary: • No separation between legislative and executive branches • PM & Cabinet are MPs (members of Parliament) • PM + Cabinet members + other senior MPs in the party = the “Government”

  4. Presidential vs. Parliamentary • Presidential: • Pres. & Cabinet can’t be removed due to losing a majority in Congress. (only by impeachment) • Nominees selected by primaries/caucuses • Elections regularly scheduled • Parliamentary: • Govt. remains in office only if it retains support of majority in Parliament. • Nominees selected by heads of party • PM may call new Parliament elections at any time up to 5 years.

  5. Presidential vs. Parliamentary • Presidential: • President has only bargaining leverage over Congressional votes. • Members of Congress introduce bills. • Bills change significantly in Congress. • Both houses of Congress have significant power • Parliamentary: • PM has much leverage over MPs votes. • PM/Cabinet introduce most bills. • Bills are passed with few changes. • 2nd house of Parliament may have little power.

  6. Presidential: Intricate system of Checks & Balances Judicial Review Presidential veto Congressional override of veto Impeachment Senate confirmation of treaties and Presidential appointees Etc….. Parliamentary System: Fewer Checks & Balances No Confidence vote House of Lords may delay legislation for 1 year Cabinet pressure on PM Question Hour Tradition & Reasonableness Checks & Balances http://www.c-span.org/Series/Prime-Minister-Questions.aspx

  7. PAIR-SHARE DISCUSSION • Try to Predict Political Outcomes: • Brainstorm on how the two systems might impact the policy-making process: • E.g. efficiency, coherence of legislation, effectiveness of the policy-making process, stability, decision-making in times of crisis, ability to make broad changes in policy, democratic representation of a country’s citizens, etc. • Any other factors you can think of….? • Explain TWO Advantages and Disadvantages of each system.

  8. Presidential System • Advantages: • Separation of Powers? • No branch or individual too powerful • More democratic? more interests represented; more compromise • Disadvantages: • Slow process • Piecemeal Legislation • Hard to create change / fulfill campaign promises

  9. Parliamentary System • Advantages: • Efficient / Quick process • Easy to create change / fulfill campaign promises • More accountability to public? • Coherent laws and policy • Disadvantages: • too much Concentration of power? • Fewer interests represented • Change too drastic when parties switch? • Legislative process more symbolic

  10. Brainstorm a Perfect System • How would you design your ultimate system? • Which aspects would you take from eiher system to create your ideal system? • Or do you prefer a strict parliamentary or straight presidential system?

More Related