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Chapter 11 - Parliamentary Presidential, and Semi-Presidential Democracies: Making and Breaking Governments

  • Democracies are frequently classified as parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential by political scientists. The connection between the government, the legislature, and (if there is one) the president determines whether democracy is parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential.

  • In many respects, the creation of administration in presidential democracies differs from that in parliamentary democracies. In comparison to parliamentary democracies, presidential democracies have more minority administrations but fewer coalition governments on average. They also have a higher proportionality in the allotment of cabinet roles and more nonpartisan ministers. If the president is weak, governments in presidential democracies resemble those in parliamentary democracies.

12.1, Classifying Democracies

  • The connection between (a) the government, which consists of the political chief executive and ministers who head the different government agencies, (b) the legislature, and (c) the president determines whether democracy is parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential. In order to categorize democracies as parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential, we must first pose two essential questions. 2 Figure 12.1 depicts these questions.

  • The first question is whether the government is accountable to the legislature that has been elected. Remember that the government is made up of the political president and the ministers in charge of the various government departments. Parliamentary responsibility refers to the constitutional authority of a legislative majority to remove the government from office without reason.

  • Some nations also have a vote of confidence in addition to votes of no confidence. A vote of confidence is similar to a vote of no confidence in that it requires administrations to resign if they do not get a parliamentary majority. The difference is that governments start votes of confidence, whereas the legislature initiates votes of no confidence.

  • To summarize, legislatures in democracies with legislative responsibility can depose governments by passing a vote of no confidence or rejecting a government-sponsored vote of confidence. The presence of a president does not characterize presidential democracies, as shown in Figure 12.1. Instead, they are characterized by the lack of legislative authority—in a presidential democracy, the legislature cannot overthrow the government.

Is the Head of State Popularity Elected for a Fixed Term

  • We need to know if a democracy with legislative power is parliamentary or semi-presidential in order to decide whether it has a democratically elected head of state who serves a set term. If it does, it is a semi-presidential system. If it doesn't, it's considered parliamentary.

  • It's important to remember that democracy can have an elected head of state who isn't "popularly elected." The German head of state, for example, is chosen by regional legislatures rather than by the general public. Serving a fixed-term implies that the head of state is in office for a certain amount of time before being reappointed, and she cannot be removed from office in the meantime.

An Overview

  • As of 2008, Map 12.1 depicts the global distribution of parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential democracies. Presidential democracies are depicted in black, semi-presidential democracies are depicted in medium gray, parliamentary democracies are depicted in light gray, and dictatorships are depicted in white. As can be seen, presidential democracies are more common in the Americas, especially in South America.

  • The parliamentary type of democracy is the most widespread in the globe, as seen in Figure 12.2. In 2008, parliamentary democracies made up just over 43% (51 out of 118) of the world's democracies. However, in the past, the ratio of parliamentary democracies in the globe was significantly greater, with 74 percent of democracies being parliamentary in 1978.

The Government

  • In a parliamentary democracy, the government is primarily made up of a prime minister and a cabinet. Table 12.2 shows the government of the United Kingdom in 2010.

  • A minister is part of a collective body that is responsible for making the most significant decisions regarding the direction of government policy as a member of the cabinet and as the head of a government department. The idea of joint cabinet accountability usually binds cabinet ministers.

  • This is because cabinet members in presidential democracies are in charge of specific policy areas and are not accountable for or expected to affect the general direction of government policy; the president and his staff are in charge of that.

Government Formation Process

  • Citizens do not elect the prime minister or cabinet members in parliamentary democracies; only members of the legislature are elected. So, how do governments come into being, you might wonder? Consider the results of the parliamentary elections in West Germany in 1987, as given in Table 12.3. Is it possible to deduce what the German government formed as a result of these elections simply by glancing at the table? Isn't it apparent that this isn't the case?

  • In a parliamentary democracy, a future government must have the tacit backing of a legislative majority at all times, even if there is no official investiture vote. Because the legislature has the power to call a vote of no confidence in the government at any moment, this is the case.

  • But, like in Germany in 1987, what happens when no single political party has a parliamentary majority? In most parliamentary democracies, this is the typical position. According to the CPD statistics, 219 of the 266 administrations established in the eleven West European parliamentary democracies in the sample (82 percent) originated from political conditions in which no one party held a majority of legislative seats.

  • Democracies are frequently classified as parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential by political scientists. The connection between the government, the legislature, and (if there is one) the president determines whether democracy is parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential.

  • In many respects, the creation of administration in presidential democracies differs from that in parliamentary democracies. In comparison to parliamentary democracies, presidential democracies have more minority administrations but fewer coalition governments on average. They also have a higher proportionality in the allotment of cabinet roles and more nonpartisan ministers. If the president is weak, governments in presidential democracies resemble those in parliamentary democracies.

12.1, Classifying Democracies

  • The connection between (a) the government, which consists of the political chief executive and ministers who head the different government agencies, (b) the legislature, and (c) the president determines whether democracy is parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential. In order to categorize democracies as parliamentary, presidential, or semi-presidential, we must first pose two essential questions. 2 Figure 12.1 depicts these questions.

  • The first question is whether the government is accountable to the legislature that has been elected. Remember that the government is made up of the political president and the ministers in charge of the various government departments. Parliamentary responsibility refers to the constitutional authority of a legislative majority to remove the government from office without reason.

  • Some nations also have a vote of confidence in addition to votes of no confidence. A vote of confidence is similar to a vote of no confidence in that it requires administrations to resign if they do not get a parliamentary majority. The difference is that governments start votes of confidence, whereas the legislature initiates votes of no confidence.

  • To summarize, legislatures in democracies with legislative responsibility can depose governments by passing a vote of no confidence or rejecting a government-sponsored vote of confidence. The presence of a president does not characterize presidential democracies, as shown in Figure 12.1. Instead, they are characterized by the lack of legislative authority—in a presidential democracy, the legislature cannot overthrow the government.

Is the Head of State Popularity Elected for a Fixed Term

  • We need to know if a democracy with legislative power is parliamentary or semi-presidential in order to decide whether it has a democratically elected head of state who serves a set term. If it does, it is a semi-presidential system. If it doesn't, it's considered parliamentary.

  • It's important to remember that democracy can have an elected head of state who isn't "popularly elected." The German head of state, for example, is chosen by regional legislatures rather than by the general public. Serving a fixed-term implies that the head of state is in office for a certain amount of time before being reappointed, and she cannot be removed from office in the meantime.

An Overview

  • As of 2008, Map 12.1 depicts the global distribution of parliamentary, presidential, and semi-presidential democracies. Presidential democracies are depicted in black, semi-presidential democracies are depicted in medium gray, parliamentary democracies are depicted in light gray, and dictatorships are depicted in white. As can be seen, presidential democracies are more common in the Americas, especially in South America.

  • The parliamentary type of democracy is the most widespread in the globe, as seen in Figure 12.2. In 2008, parliamentary democracies made up just over 43% (51 out of 118) of the world's democracies. However, in the past, the ratio of parliamentary democracies in the globe was significantly greater, with 74 percent of democracies being parliamentary in 1978.

The Government

  • In a parliamentary democracy, the government is primarily made up of a prime minister and a cabinet. Table 12.2 shows the government of the United Kingdom in 2010.

  • A minister is part of a collective body that is responsible for making the most significant decisions regarding the direction of government policy as a member of the cabinet and as the head of a government department. The idea of joint cabinet accountability usually binds cabinet ministers.

  • This is because cabinet members in presidential democracies are in charge of specific policy areas and are not accountable for or expected to affect the general direction of government policy; the president and his staff are in charge of that.

Government Formation Process

  • Citizens do not elect the prime minister or cabinet members in parliamentary democracies; only members of the legislature are elected. So, how do governments come into being, you might wonder? Consider the results of the parliamentary elections in West Germany in 1987, as given in Table 12.3. Is it possible to deduce what the German government formed as a result of these elections simply by glancing at the table? Isn't it apparent that this isn't the case?

  • In a parliamentary democracy, a future government must have the tacit backing of a legislative majority at all times, even if there is no official investiture vote. Because the legislature has the power to call a vote of no confidence in the government at any moment, this is the case.

  • But, like in Germany in 1987, what happens when no single political party has a parliamentary majority? In most parliamentary democracies, this is the typical position. According to the CPD statistics, 219 of the 266 administrations established in the eleven West European parliamentary democracies in the sample (82 percent) originated from political conditions in which no one party held a majority of legislative seats.