CHAPTER 15 – ASSEMBLIES
- Or parliaments or legislatures
- Public and democratic face of the government
- Acting as national debating chambers and public forums
- They differ based on parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential system
ROLE OF ASSEMBLIES
- Congress (USA), national assembly (France), house of representatives (Japan),
parliament (Singapore), congress of deputies (Spain)
o Assemblies, legislatures, or parliaments
o Collection or gathering of people
- Legislature → the branch of government whose chief function is to make laws,
although it is seldom the only body with legislative power
- Parliamentary government → is one in which the government governs in and
through the assembly or parliament – fusing the legislative and executive branches
o 1. Governments are formed as a result of assembly elections
o 2. The personnel of government are drawn from the assembly
o 3. The governments rests on the assembly’s confidence and can be removed if
it loses that confidence
o 4. The government can, in most cases, dissolve the assembly
o 5. Parliamentary executives are generally collective
- Rarely monopolise law-making power
o Executives’ posses the same ability to make laws
- Enactment of law is only one of the functions, not necessarily the most important
- Parliaments are debating chambers → forums in which policies and political issues
can be openly discussed and scrutinized
Parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential systems
- Relationship between the assembly and the government – relationship between
legislative and executive authority → depends on the system
o Subordinate to the unchallengeable authority of the ruling party
- Parliamentary system
o Westminster style – UK Parliament (13th century)
o Also, Germany, Sweden India, Japan, New Zealand, Australia
o Fusion of legislative and executive power
▪ Government is parliamentary – drawn from and accountable to the
assembly or parliament
▪ Government can thus ensure the legislative programme is passed –
get things done
o The assembly has the upper hand because it has the ultimate power to
remove the government
- Responsible government → is answerable or accountable to an elected assembly
and, through it, to the people
, o However, sometimes fails to live up to the expectations – strong policy
influence
o UK – combination of strict party discipline and disproportional electoral
system normally allows the government to control Parliament through
majority in the House of Commons
o Parliamentary systems may cause for parliaments to become little more than
talking shops
o Parliamentary systems are linked with weak government and political
instability
▪ Immobilism
- Elective dictatorship → imbalance between the executive and the assembly that
means that, once elected, the government is only constrained by the need to win
subsequent elections
- Lobby fodder → pejorative term denoting assembly members who vote consistently
and unquestioningly as their parties dictate
- Montesquieu
o French political philosopher
o Persian Letters, The Spirit of the Laws
o Comparative examination of political and legal issues
o Parliamentary liberalism
o State needs to resist tyranny by fragmenting government power →
separation of powers
- Immobilism → political paralysis stemming from the absence of a strong executive,
caused by multiple divisions in the assembly and society
- Presidential government
o Separation of powers – Montesquieu
o Assemblies and executives are formally independent and separately elected
o US, Latin America
o Semi-presidential/hybrid → France during the fifth republic
▪ Elected president works in conjunction with a prime minister and
cabinet drawn from and responsible to National Assembly
▪ Balance between
▪ Finland – president concerned largely with foreign affairs and leaves
domestic responsibilities to the cabinet
▪ Also many post-communist states
• Russia – super presidentialism
o Separation of executive and legislative power – creates internal tensions that
help to protect individual rights and liberties (Hobbes)
▪ Congress has the right to declare war and raise taxes
▪ Senate must ratify treaties and confirm presidential appointments
▪ Two houses combined can impeach the president
o Criticism → can create government gridlock
- Checks and balances → internal tensions within the governmental system that result
from institutional fragmentation
- Or parliaments or legislatures
- Public and democratic face of the government
- Acting as national debating chambers and public forums
- They differ based on parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential system
ROLE OF ASSEMBLIES
- Congress (USA), national assembly (France), house of representatives (Japan),
parliament (Singapore), congress of deputies (Spain)
o Assemblies, legislatures, or parliaments
o Collection or gathering of people
- Legislature → the branch of government whose chief function is to make laws,
although it is seldom the only body with legislative power
- Parliamentary government → is one in which the government governs in and
through the assembly or parliament – fusing the legislative and executive branches
o 1. Governments are formed as a result of assembly elections
o 2. The personnel of government are drawn from the assembly
o 3. The governments rests on the assembly’s confidence and can be removed if
it loses that confidence
o 4. The government can, in most cases, dissolve the assembly
o 5. Parliamentary executives are generally collective
- Rarely monopolise law-making power
o Executives’ posses the same ability to make laws
- Enactment of law is only one of the functions, not necessarily the most important
- Parliaments are debating chambers → forums in which policies and political issues
can be openly discussed and scrutinized
Parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential systems
- Relationship between the assembly and the government – relationship between
legislative and executive authority → depends on the system
o Subordinate to the unchallengeable authority of the ruling party
- Parliamentary system
o Westminster style – UK Parliament (13th century)
o Also, Germany, Sweden India, Japan, New Zealand, Australia
o Fusion of legislative and executive power
▪ Government is parliamentary – drawn from and accountable to the
assembly or parliament
▪ Government can thus ensure the legislative programme is passed –
get things done
o The assembly has the upper hand because it has the ultimate power to
remove the government
- Responsible government → is answerable or accountable to an elected assembly
and, through it, to the people
, o However, sometimes fails to live up to the expectations – strong policy
influence
o UK – combination of strict party discipline and disproportional electoral
system normally allows the government to control Parliament through
majority in the House of Commons
o Parliamentary systems may cause for parliaments to become little more than
talking shops
o Parliamentary systems are linked with weak government and political
instability
▪ Immobilism
- Elective dictatorship → imbalance between the executive and the assembly that
means that, once elected, the government is only constrained by the need to win
subsequent elections
- Lobby fodder → pejorative term denoting assembly members who vote consistently
and unquestioningly as their parties dictate
- Montesquieu
o French political philosopher
o Persian Letters, The Spirit of the Laws
o Comparative examination of political and legal issues
o Parliamentary liberalism
o State needs to resist tyranny by fragmenting government power →
separation of powers
- Immobilism → political paralysis stemming from the absence of a strong executive,
caused by multiple divisions in the assembly and society
- Presidential government
o Separation of powers – Montesquieu
o Assemblies and executives are formally independent and separately elected
o US, Latin America
o Semi-presidential/hybrid → France during the fifth republic
▪ Elected president works in conjunction with a prime minister and
cabinet drawn from and responsible to National Assembly
▪ Balance between
▪ Finland – president concerned largely with foreign affairs and leaves
domestic responsibilities to the cabinet
▪ Also many post-communist states
• Russia – super presidentialism
o Separation of executive and legislative power – creates internal tensions that
help to protect individual rights and liberties (Hobbes)
▪ Congress has the right to declare war and raise taxes
▪ Senate must ratify treaties and confirm presidential appointments
▪ Two houses combined can impeach the president
o Criticism → can create government gridlock
- Checks and balances → internal tensions within the governmental system that result
from institutional fragmentation
