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One of
the keys to understanding the presidency is to understand it from a
comparative perspective. Remember that the notion of comparison is
one of the “great concepts” we use to explore things political!!!
The key
question in the case of the presidency is:
"How do other political systems
organize the executive function within the framework of their governments?".
The most frequently utilized alternative to the Presidential system of
government is the parliamentary system.
For those with no familiarity with the parliamentary system (and as a simple
refresher for others), here is a quick examination of the fundamental
differences in the two systems: Verney.
A very good graphic representation of the differences between the two systems
(from M. G. Roskin, Countries and Concepts)
is: click here
In the
parliamentary system, voters choose among parties in elections and the
executive (the Prime Minister or PM) "comes out of" the electoral
results in legislative districts. If one party wins a majority of seats in
the parliament, then the party leader is usually the PM. If no one party wins
a majority of seats, then a "coalition government" must be formed.
In this case, a number of parties will agree to "form a government"
with one party's leader being PM and the other parties dividing up various
ministries among themselves.
In the presidential system, voters choose representatives and executives in
separate elections. It can often occur that one party will control the
legislature (or in the case of the US--one house) and another party
will control the executive. This is often called: divided government.
Which
system is better?
That depends on your perspective!!
What is considered an advantage of one is considered a disadvantage by the
other and vice versa.
Advantages of
presidential system:
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1) executive stability
fixed
term of office
vs.
vote of no confidence
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2) greater democracy
popular
(direct) election with no tie to legislative elections
US
case?
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3) limited government
separation
of powers between branches implies (is) limited government
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Disadvantages of presidentialism:
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1) potential for executive-legislative
gridlock
gridlock
can be likely (especially due to temporal rigidity)
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2) temporal rigidity
inability to change government except at standard interval
(or multiple intervals, as in U.S.)
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3) less inclusive
the
winner-take-all election is "undemocratic" since it treats
outcome as a zero-sum game where winner wins and everyone else (no matter
what % of the vote they got) loses
no opportunity for "powersharing"
leads to gridlock rather than compromise
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