Political Institutions

Political Institutions

Presentation Outline

1) Presidential Systems2) Parliamentary Systems3) Mixed Systems4) Authoritarian Systems5) Party Systems6) Electoral Systems7) Legal Systems

Democracies

1) Presidential Systems

• Power is evenly divided between three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial)

• There are separate elections for the legislative and executive branches

• The President is both head of the government and head of the state and is directly accountable to the citizens who voted for him/her

Checks and Balances

• Presidents can veto laws passed by the legislative branch•The legislative branch can overturn these vetoes and even impeach or remove a president with a 66% majority vote

States which use presidential systems

United States Mexico Nigeria

Brazil Argentina Philippines

2) Parliamentary Systems

• There are three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial)

• However, the executive and legislative branches are fused together

• Unlike presidential systems, there is only one election for the legislative branch

• The executive branch is chosen by the legislative branch

Executive

A Fused System

Legislative

Prime MinisterMonarch

Civil Service Cabinet

Members of Parliament

• The Prime Minister is only the head of government

• The Monarch is the head of state• The Prime Minister is NOT directly

accountable to the citizens• Rather, the Prime Minister is accountable to

Parliament which has the power the defeat his/her government with a vote of confidence

States which use parliamentary systems: The ones colored orange have a president as figurehead and head of state. The ones colored red have a monarch as figurehead and head of state.

3) Mixed Systems• Semi-presidential or mixed presidential-

parliamentary systems have a president and a prime minister

• The president is more powerful and appoints the prime minister in this system

• The president is the head of state and is considered the chief of government

• The prime minister is only the head of the parliament

• The president is directly elected by citizens

States which use mixed systems

Russia South Korea

France

4) Authoritarian systems

• Authoritarian systems may have president, chairman, or general

• Elections are NOT competitive and the head of state and head of government is NOT accountable to his/her citizens

• Normally only one party is permitted • This includes: communist, fascist, and military

dictatorships; theocracies and absolute monarchies

States which currently use authoritarian systems

China North Korea Vietnam

Saudi Arabia

5) Party Systems

• Democratic states have either two party or multi-party systems

• States which use proportional representation tend to have more political parties

• Parties are generally organized and established around a common political ideology

Political Spectrum

Left Right

Traditional spectrum

A more accurate way to understand political ideology

U.K. Parties

6)Electoral Systems

• Democratic systems elect leaders and representatives using either a single-member-district (SMD) system or a proportional representation (PR) system

• Some states such as Mexico use both

Single Member District (SMD)

• Candidates must be elected in districts across the state• Only the candidate with the most votes (plurality)

wins the district and goes to the national parliament• Candidates finishing in second or third place do not go

to parliament

Candidates Party % VoteLibby Davies New Democratic

Party36 (winner)

Terry Collins Liberal Party 28Isabel Valdez Green Party 20Susan Chong Conservative 16

Vancouver-East District in Canada

• Less parties tend to be elected to parliament• The largest party tends to have an

exaggerated victory• Majority governments are more common

Party Popular Vote % Seats won in the Commons

% of seats held in the Commons

Conservatives 36.1 306 47Labour 29 258 39Liberal Democrats 23 57 8.7

*Based on a 650 seat House of Commons326 seats needed to form a majority government

2010 UK Election Results

Proportional Representation (PR)

• Voters normally choose political parties rather than candidates

• Seats are determined proportionally• A party which receives 25% of the vote will get

25% of the seats in parliament• Parties determine which candidates will fill the

seats in parliament• Results in many more parties elected to parliament

2011 Canadian Election Results

7) Legal systems

• Most states use civil code legal systems (China, Iran, Mexico, Russia) where all laws are written down

• In the U.K. and other former British colonies common law is used where laws are based on precedents or previous decisions of judges

Judicial Review

• Many democratic states have judicial review• Judicial review gives the supreme court the

power to overturn decisions made by the president or legislature which are unconstitutional

• Judicial review is seen as another way to ensure that leaders do not abuse their political power

• The United States• Russia• Nigeria• Mexico

States with the powers of judicial review:

States without the powers of judicial review:•The U.K.•China•Iran