States currently utilizing parliamentary systems are denoted in 'red' and 'orange'—the former being
constitutional monarchies where authority is vested in a parliament, and the latter being
parliamentary republics whose parliaments are effectively supreme over a separate head of state.
A 'parliamentary system', also known as 'parliamentarianism' (and 'parliamentarism' in U.S. English), is distinguished by the
executive branch of government being dependent on the direct or indirect support of the
parliament, often expressed through a
vote of confidence. Hence, there is no clear-cut
separation of powers between the
executive and
legislative branches, leading to a differing set of
checks and balances compared to those found in a presidential
republic. Parliamentary systems usually have a clear differentiation between the ''
head of government'' and the ''
head of state'', with the head of government being the
prime minister or
premier, and the head of state often being an elected (either popularly or through parliament)
president or hereditary
monarch. Though in Parliamentary systems the prime minister and cabinet will exercise executive power on a day-to-day basis, actual authority will usually be bestowed in the head of state, giving them many codified or uncodified reserve powers, providing some balance to these systems.
The term ''parliamentary system'' does not mean that a country is ruled by different parties in
coalition with each other. Such multi-party arrangements are usually the product of an
electoral system known as
proportional representation. Parliamentary countries that use
first past the post voting usually have governments composed of one party. However, parliamentary systems in continental Europe do use
proportional representation, and tend to produce election results in which no single party has a majority of seats.
Parliamentarianism may also be heeded for governance in
local governments. An example is the city of
Oslo, which has an executive council as a part of the parliamentary system. The
council-manager system of municipal government used in some U.S. cities bears many similarities to a parliamentary system.
Types
There are broadly two forms of Parliamentary Democracies.
★
Westminster System or Westminster Models tend to be found in
Commonwealth of Nations countries, although they are not universal within nor exclusive to Commonwealth countries. These parliaments tend to have a more adversarial style of debate and the plenary session of parliament is relatively more important than committees. Some parliaments in this model are elected using "
First Past the Post" electoral systems, (e.g.
Canada,
India and the
UK), others using proportional representation, e.g.
Ireland and
Singapore. The
Australian House of Representatives is elected using the
alternative or
preferential vote while the
Senate is elected using PRSTV (proportional representation through the
single transferable vote). However even when
proportional representation systems are used, the systems used tend to allow the voter to vote for a named candidate rather than a
party list. This model does allow for a greater separation of powers than the Western European Model, although the extent of the separation of powers is nowhere near that of the
presidential system of
United States.
★
Western European Parliamentary Model (e.g.
Spain,
Germany) tend to have a more consensual debating system, and have semi-cyclical debating chambers.
Proportional representation systems are used, where there is more of a tendency to use
party list systems than the Westminster Model legislatures. The committees of these Parliaments tend to be more important than the plenary chamber. This model is sometimes called the West German Model- since it was used in the Parliament of the West German, later united Germany Parliament.
There also exists a Hybrid Model, the
semi-presidential system, drawing on both presidential systems and parliamentary systems, for example the
French Fifth Republic. Much of
Eastern Europe has adopted this model since the early
1990s.
Advantages of a parliamentary system
Some believe that it's easier to pass
legislation within a parliamentary system. This is because the executive branch is dependent upon the direct or indirect support of the legislative branch and often includes members of the
legislature. In a presidential system, the executive is often chosen independently from the legislature. If the executive and legislature in such a system include members entirely or predominantly from different
political parties, then stalemate can occur. Former
US President Bill Clinton often faced problems in this regard, since the
Republicans controlled
Congress for much of his tenure. That being said, presidents can also face problems from their own parties, as former
US President Jimmy Carter often did .
In addition to quicker legislative action, Parliamentarianism has attractive features for nations that are
ethnically,
racially, or
ideologically divided. In a unipersonal presidential system, all executive power is concentrated in the president. In a parliamentary system, with a collegial executive, power is more divided. In the 1989
Lebanese Taif Agreement, in order to give
Muslims greater political power,
Lebanon moved from a
semi-presidential system with a strong president to a system more structurally similar to a classical parliamentarianism.
Iraq similarly disdained a presidential system out of fears that such a system would be equivalent to
Shiite domination;
Afghanistan's minorities refused to go along with a presidency as strong as the
Pashtuns desired.
It can also be argued that power is more evenly spread out in the power structure of parliamentarianism. The premier seldom tends to have as high importance as a ruling president, and there tends to be a higher focus on voting for a party and its political ideas than voting for an actual person.
In ''
The English Constitution'',
Walter Bagehot praised parliamentarianism for producing serious debates, for allowing the change in power without an election, and for allowing elections at any time. Bagehot considered the four-year election rule of the United States to be unnatural.
There is also a body of scholarship, associated with
Juan Linz,
Fred Riggs,
Bruce Ackerman, and
Robert Dahl that claims that parliamentarianism is less prone to
authoritarian collapse. These scholars point out that since
World War II, two-thirds of
Third World countries establishing parliamentary governments successfully transitioned to democracy. By contrast, no Third World presidential system successfully transitioned to democracy without experiencing
coups and other constitutional breakdowns. As Bruce Ackerman says of the 30 countries to have experimented with American checks and balances, “All of them, without exception, have succumbed to the nightmare [of breakdown] one time or another, often repeatedly.â€
A recent
World Bank study found that parliamentary systems are associated with lower corruption.
[1]
Criticisms of parliamentarianism
One main criticism of many parliamentary systems is that the head of government is in almost all cases not directly elected. In a presidential system, the president is usually chosen directly by the electorate, or by a set of electors directly chosen by the people, separate from the legislature. However, in a parliamentary system the prime minister is elected by the legislature, often under the strong influence of the party leadership. Thus, a party's candidate for the head of government is usually known before the election, possibly making the election as much about the person as the party behind him or her.
Another major criticism of the parliamentary system lies precisely in its purported advantage: that there is no truly independent body to oppose and veto legislation passed by the parliament, and therefore no substantial check on legislative power. Conversely, because of the lack of inherent
separation of powers, some believe that a parliamentary system can place too much power in the
executive entity, leading to the feeling that the
legislature or
judiciary have little scope to administer checks or balances on the executive. However, most parliamentary systems are
bicameral, with an upper house designed to check the power of the lower (from which the executive comes).
Although it is possible to have a powerful prime minister, as Britain has, or even a
dominant party system, as
Japan has, parliamentary systems are also sometimes unstable. Critics point to
Israel,
Italy,
India, the
French Fourth Republic, and
Weimar Germany as examples of parliamentary systems where unstable coalitions, demanding minority parties,
votes of no confidence, and threats of such votes, make or have made effective governance impossible. Defenders of parliamentarianism say that parliamentary instability is the result of
proportional representation, political culture, and highly polarised electorates.
Although
Walter Bagehot praised parliamentarianism for allowing an election to take place at any time, the lack of a definite election calendar can be abused. In some systems, such as the British, a ruling party can schedule elections when it feels that it is likely to do well, and so avoid elections at times of unpopularity. Thus, by wise timing of elections, in a parliamentary system a party can extend its rule for longer than is feasible in a functioning presidential system. In other systems, such as the Dutch, the ruling party or coalition has some flexibility in determining the election date.
Alexander Hamilton argued for elections at set intervals as a means of insulating the government from the transient passions of the people, and thereby giving ''reason'' the advantage over ''passion'' in the accountability of the government to the people.
Parliamentarism and party formation
Parties in parliamentary systems have had much tighter ideological cohesiveness than parties in presidential systems. It would be difficult for a parliamentary system to have a party like the
United States Democratic Party, which until the
1980s was a coalition of Southern
conservative Protestants ('
Dixiecrats') and urban
liberals with no single unified ideology. In a parliamentary system, a party such as this would typically splinter because, if in government, it may be unable to govern effectively. Having splintered, though, the resulting parties might join in a governing coalition.
This form of government is often compared to a Presidential system.
Countries with a parliamentary system of government
Unicameral system
This table shows countries with parliament consisting of a single house.
The Norwegian Parliament is divided in the Lagting and Odelsting in legislative matters. This separation will be abolished with the next parliament in 2009 due to a constitutional amendment.
Bicameral system
This table shows countries with parliament consisting of two houses.
Notes
1. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=632777
2. The Council of Union is defined in the constitution of Iraq but does not currently exist.
3. Prior to the coup d'etat of September 19, 2006
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