Strengths And Weaknesses Of Parliamentary Democracy

Parliament is very effective when dealing with the public and their interests and needs like when they redress public grievances to make sure they are listened too. However, parliament isn’t so effective on the representative side of things. This is because the electoral system that we use isn’t very fair and excludes smaller parties of a chance of being voted into parliament. This therefore means a large number of public votes have been

A referendum is the only formal process that can be used to change the written words of the Constitution but it isn’t the only way Commonwealth Parliament can gain powers. States can refer or give their power to Commonwealth Parliament by passing an act.

Since 1979 the conservative party has undergone significant changes from the traditional conservative party which focused on ideas about human nature, order and pragmatism, first with new right conservatism under Thatcher then with the current conservative party. The current conservative party however, can be seen to still be committed to its traditional conservative principles such as Euro-scepticism and that they remain largely traditionalist. However there are many ways in which the conservative party has changed such as taxation, education and the welfare state.

The Legislature power is a power that makes law for regulation of peoples and private organisations conduct, also structure and power of public authorities which is ran by the Parliament. This includes bodies such as House of Lords, House of Commons and the Queen. The Executive power is the administrative branch of government that implements the law, which are made by legislators. Bodies that regulate this are the Queen, Prime Minister, other Ministers, Civil service, police and armed forces. Introduction of the legislation, controlling security and public services, supporting prosperity and conducting the external relation of the state are the roles of the executive power. The Judiciary is the power that

Under a minority government, no party has ultimate control of making policies, it instead rules on consensus with the other parties, conversely, in a majority government, a single-party dominates the legislative process. Though complex agreements between opposition parties, the governing party can maintain confidence. For example, countries including Canada use contract parliamentarism, where opposition parties agree to support the government in return for policy on other concessions (Akash et al., 2010, p. 216). While this promotes collective responsibility, parties are still able to decide their own position on most matters. Therefore, parties collaborate to protect minority agreements that “often survive a full parliamentary term” (Akash et al., p. 216). This can result in motions being passed that cover a broad variety of different topics that ultimately can address issues that all parties see lacking in

US parties are often described as organisationally weak because they are essentially ‘broad coalitions’. For example they contain moderates like McCain republican) and Obama democrat), while also having a more conservative wing. Therefore stronger party organisation would give parties a narrower appeal and potentially alienate large ‘voting blocs’ or proportions of the electorate. This is a reason why it is argued that having ‘organisationally weak’ parties is a necessity in the US political system. It has therefore been argued that symptoms of weak organisation e.g issue centred or candidate-centered election campaigns are deliberate as parties attempt to gain a maximum

‘Parliamentary sovereignty is a constitutional relic. It has been rendered obsolete, in particular, by the supremacy of EU law and the UK’s statutory recognition of human rights. We should no longer talk about this irrelevant doctrine.’

First, the two-party system does not create an equal policy in society because it does not allow people to get far if they are not within either of the two parties. The idea of the winner-take-all electoral system is the hostile terrain for third parties because the odds are in favor of the bigger parties (Conray). The bigger parties over the years seem to have the upper hand within the government, and especially within the elections.

While this division has been created to give structure to the government and ensure its smooth and effective functioning, there is, more importantly, the need to keep the power of the branches in check and to make them accountable to each other. There is a system of ‘checks and balances’ that comes into play with this segregation of duties and separation of power. This system’s inception has been attributed to Montesquieu. (Wikipedia.org)

Throughout a significant period in history, 1945-79, a two party system was obviously predominant; the Labour and Conservative parties being the only two with the possibility of achieving majority vote and therefore forming a government. People voted for the party which represented their social class e.g.

After all, a central aspect of the proportional representation argument is that the government should be formatted in a manner that allows for the fair representation of the political opinion of Canadians. However, Kam points out how legislation is passed in an effort to represent the will of the majority of Canadians. But, he also argues that there is no such thing as a true majority, as there is no single policy that voters prefer to all others. In turn, he claims that “manufactured majorities” created as a result of the SMP system are not necessarily a bad thing, as they give parliament the stability needed to pass legislation. In comparison, he points out how the MMP system would give power to a number of smaller parties, and that these parties would impair parliament’s ability to pass policy.

The First Past The Post system’s ability to create single party governments therefore means that that government will be stable and cohesive. Within parties the majority of people have shared political ideologies and ideas and so the party elected to government will be able to make decisions quickly and efficiently as everyone will be aiming towards shared goals or desires for policies. The governing party will be loyal to their traditional or modern ideologies and will have decided upon one set of policies in their manifesto before the election and so they will not need a large amount of discussion and debate before policies are passed. All members of the party will be subject to the same party disciplines so they will all be following the same rules and working together which again ensures that the government is stable. A stable government means that parties can pass their desired policies quickly which will be beneficial to the public as they will feel that the party is doing their role correctly and efficiently. If a governing party were to not be stable then it may affect their future election prospects as the public are unlikely to vote in a party that they have previously seen as unstable.

For many years it has been argued that parliamentary sovereignty has, and still is, being eroded. As said by AV Dicey, the word ‘sovereignty’ is used to describe the idea of “the power of law making unrestricted by any legal limit”. Parliamentary sovereignty is a principle of the UK constitution, stating that Parliament is the supreme legal authority in the UK, able to create and remove any law. This power over-rules courts and all other jurisdiction. It also cannot be entrenched; this is where all laws passed by the party in government can be changed by future parliaments. In recent years sovereignty of parliament has been a

The two-party system is said to promote governmental stability because a single party can win a majority of political offices and, with less bickering between differing and partisan legislators, govern more efficiently. In a multiparty country, on the other hand, the formation of a government depends on the maintenance of a coalition of parties with enough total strength to form a political majority. The weakness of the ties that bind the coalition may threaten the continuance of a cabinet in power. The stability shown by the government of the United States has not been entirely due to its party system, it has been argued, but has been promoted also by the fixed tenure and strong constitutional position of the president, as well as checks and balances built into the constitution to prevent one branch of federal government from becoming too powerful.

Competition that otherwise would occur between major parties occurs in majority party. Voters don't participate as much. (Magleby 66)