Countries Flashcards
(37 cards)
UK constitution
No single document that defines the tules of politics.
Constitution of the Crown: written and unwritten rules that British citizens sees as inviolable.
- Common law: costumes and long standing traditions.
- magna charta: limited power to the monarchy, which is subjected to the law.
- English bill of rights
- any law passed by the parliament.
- judicial decisions
US constitution
Balanced:
- separation of powers: separate branches with separate personal chosen by different methods of election and constituencies.
- checks and balances: division of authority and control across executive, legislative and judicial branches.
- federalism: division of authority between national and state government.
- rule of law: government can act and citizens can be punished only as authorised by legal statue.
Germany constitution
Grundgesetz (Basic Law)
- the lower house can only pass a constitutive vote of no confidence: the replacement needs to be agreed upon beforehand.
- parties seeking to overturn the democracy are unconstitutional.
- war-making is unconstitutional.
Japan Constitution
1947
- anti-militarist document: renounces the right to wage war and prohibits maintenance of army
- drawn up under the allied occupation.
UK executive
Head of state: monarch
- symbolic representative
- agreed to act constitutionally
Head of government: PM
- 5 years
- leader of the largest party in the House of Commons
- question period
- seasoned political veteran
- chooses the cabinet
- can be removed by a vote of no confidence
Cabinet:
- 20 ministers from MPs
- rely on bureaucracy
- party discipline
FEW CHECKS ON THEIR POWER
Party discipline
unwritten rule that states that even when individual Cainer ministers oppose to a given politics, the entire cabinet must appear unified and take responsibility for the policy.
- those who cannot support a decision must resign and return to legislature.
US executive
President both head of state and head of gov
- 4 years
- max 2 terms
- enforces or vetos laws passed by legislature
- commander in chief
- appoints judges to supreme cour
- pardons for offences against the us
- cabinets
- can be removed only if impeached and then convicted.
Germany executive
Head of state: federal president
- indirectly elected by a federal convention
- 5 years
- max 2 terms
- ceremonial figure who performs symbolic tasks (sing or refuse to sign law and treaties, pardon criminals…)
Head of government: federal chancellor
- elected by the lower house
- 4 years (renewables)
- leader of the largest party in the legislature
- appoints and oversee the cabinet (15 members of the legislature).
- can be removed by a constructive vote of no confidence
French executive
Head of state: president
- 5 years
- max 2 consecutive terms
- directs the governments –> weekly meetings
-appoints PM and ministies
- commander in chief of the armed forces
- referendum
- appoints member of judicial courts.
- no veto power
- can dissolve national assembly and call new elections
- can remove PM and cabinet members
- foreign treaties
Head of government: PM
- incompatibility clause: MPs and PM must five up their eat in parliament one appointed to the cabinet.
- day to day affairs in the gov
- cultivates support for presidential policies
- can be removed by a motion of censure: absolutely majority of the lower house.
- can be removed by the president.
Cohabitation
when presidents lack a majority in the legislature and compromise by appointing a prime minister from the opposition.
Japan Executive
Head of state: Emperor
- symbolic role
- cerimonia tasks (appoints PM and chief of justice of the SC).
- hereditary and patrilineal
Head og government: PM
- indirectly elected by the lower house
- 4 years
- leader of the party with the largest majority
- choses the cabine (half from the diet).
- can be removed by a vote of no confidence
France legislative
Bicameral system
- weaker when compared to the executive
- agenda controlled by the gov
- blocked vote: forced the legislature to accept or refuse bill entirely and allow amendment only if approved by the gov
- weekly questioning of gov ministries
- gov can submit legislation as motions of confidence: proposed laws are passed unless the legislature can muster a motion of censure against it.
1. National Assembly
- 577 members
- 5 years renewable
- amenda legislation
2. Senate
- 321 members
- 6 years
- by an electoral college of local government officials and members of the lower house –> no popular legitimacy.
- can initiate legislation
- can reject constitutional amendments
- specialised in constitutional matters and foreign affairs.
Germany Legislative
Bicameral system
1. Bundestag
- directly elected
- represents population
- variable number of deputies.
- 4 years
- elects the chancellor, who can form a majority coalition among the parties in the legislature.
- can remove the chancellor through a constructive vote of no confidence
- approve deferral laws
- amend and debate legislation submitted by the government
- question member of the government during weekly question hours
2. Bundesrat
- appointed by the state governments
- represents the states.
- 69 members –> 3-6 members per state, depending on its population
- must approve all laws that affect the states –> veto power over 1/3 of all legislation
- for other legislation its opposition can be overridden by the lower house.
- must approve constitutional amendment
- often controlled by the opposition –> check on the federal government.
US legislative
Bicameral system
- can override presidential veto with a 2/3 majority.
- can refuse to pass legislation
- can overturn a constitutional decision of the SC by amending the constitution.
1. House of Representatives:
- 435 members
- 2 years
- population based vote
- can impeach a president or a federal judge
- orignitas taxes
- revenues bills
- more likely to vote along partisan line
2. Senate
- 100 members
- 6 years
- 1/3 of the body elected every 2 years
- state based vote
- approve executives appointments
- ratifies treaties
- can convict and remove from office a president or a federal judge.
- more likely to for an alliance or vote with members of the opposing party on an important issue.
France judiciary
- based on continental Europe law: derives from detailed legal codes rather than from precedents.
- systematically codified by Napoleon –> role of the judges is simply to interpret and apply those codes.
- constitutional council to settle constitutional disputes: 9 members for a single 9 term appointed by the president and has of the national assembly and senate.
Germany judiciary
- Federal constitutional court: independent to safeguard constitution
- disputes between states and the federal gov
- disputes about elections
- constitutional rights violated
- abstract review: can review pending legislation on the request of 1/3 of the members of either house of the legislation. - Constitutional court
- 2 chambers
- 32 members
- selected by the legislature and approved by 2/3 majority
- 12 years
- controversial issues
Germany judiciary
- Federal constitutional court: independent to safeguard constitution
- disputes between states and the federal gov
- disputes about elections
- constitutional rights violated
- abstract review: can review pending legislation on the request of 1/3 of the members of either house of the legislation. - Constitutional court
- 2 chambers
- 32 members
- selected by the legislature and approved by 2/3 majority
- 12 years
- controversial issues
US judiciary
Supreme court
- judicial review: authority to judge unconstitutional or invalid an act of the legislative or executive branch or of a state court or legislature (if the act is brought before them in court).
- judges serves for their lifetime without political oversight.
- their power is checked by its reliance on presidential nomination and Senate approval of nominees.
France electoral system
SMDs both for presidency and National Assembly
- 2 round runoff between candidates unless a candidate gets over 50% in the firs round
- presidential elections: second round of balloting two weeks later between the 2 top candidates
- national assembly elections: candidates with over 12.5% face off in a second-round balloting
- ensure that winning candidates have a majority of the vote in each district
- encourages more parties and candidates
Germany electoral system
Mixed electoral system
- each voter has 2 votes in the election
- fairness of PR + voter representative link of the SMD = diverse political interests + stability and integrity
- 299 seats with SMD
- remaining seats with PR –> 5% threshold = avoid fragmentation and extremisms.
- if SMD results produce a Bundestag with membership that does not reflect each party’s national support (determined by PR), additional seats must be awarded to underrepresented parties.
US electoral system
SMDs
- both houses directly elected by popular vote
- president elected indirectly by the electoral college:
–> each party choses or appoints a alate of electors.
- each state receives a total of electoral votes equal to its combined number of senators and representatives = 538 electoral votes –> 270 to win.
Gerrymandering
political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent of creating undue advantage for party group or socio-economic class within the constituency.
UK legislative
Bicameral system
1. House of Common
- 650 members
- 5 years
- gov and opposition face each other
- debate issues
- vote on legislation proposed by the gov
- can remove the PM with a vote of no confidence.
2. House of Lords
- just traditional figure
- 790 active members
- can delay legislation for up to one year and persuade the government to amend legislation.
- considerable debate about its future.
Japan legislature
Bicameral system
- little real authority
- critical LDP factions
1. House of Representatives
- 480 members
- 4 years
- very unstable –> 2 1/2 years average.
- can remove PM and cabinet with a vote of no confidence.
- on matters of budget, treaties or designation of the PM, it has power to insist on its desicion
- on other matters it can override the vote of the upper house by a 2/3 majority.
2. House of Councillors
- 242 members
- 6 years
- cannot be dissolved.
