constitutions and institutions how do they operate? what difference do they make in liberal...

Constitutions and Institutions

How do they operate?

What difference do they make in liberal democracies?

Some questions:

• What difference do constitutions make?– Are constitutions scraps of paper, as Bismarck

argued?

OR– Do constitutions spell out relationships between

different institutions, e.g.• Between parliament and the executive?

• Between central and provincial governments?

A quick refresher: varieties of political systems

Liberal democracies:

Canada

Britain

France

Germany

United States

Semi-democracies:

Russia

Ukraine ?

Egypt

Algeria

Serbia

Authoritarian systems:

China

Iraq ??

Iran

Saudi Arabia

North Korea

Unitary vs. federal systems:

• Unitary system -- sovereignty concentrated in a central government:– Power may be devolved to regional governments,

created by the central government

– But devolved powers can be withdrawn (e.g. Northern Ireland)

• Federal system: sovereignty shared by a central government and provincial governments -- neither is capable of abolishing the other

Presidential v. Parliamentary v. semi-presidential systems

• Presidential system: political executive is separate from the legislature

• Parliamentary system: the political executive must serve with the support (or at a minimum, the forbearance) of a majority of the lower house of parliament

• Semi-presidential system: combines features of both: – Directly elected president– Premier, typically appointed by the president, must serve

with the confidence of the parliament

Forms of liberal democracies (and semi-democracies)Parliamentary Semi-

Presidential

Presidential

Unitary UK France Uruguay

Federal Canada

Germany

Australia

Russia US

Mexico

Four cases:

Britain:

Unitary

parliamentary

France:

Unitary

Semi-presidential

Germany:

Federal

Parliamentary

United States:

Federal

Presidential

An argument:

Constitutions matter, and matter a great deal, when political leaders follow them:

• Courts increasingly enforce constitutions• But we need to look not only at the

constitution on paper, but the way in which it is brought off paper and how it evolves

• Valid not only for liberal democracies, but also semi-democracies and some authoritarian political systems

Reasons for this: (a preliminary take)

Institutions (and the shape they take) matter:• Institutions shape the ways in which political

forces are expressed and channelled, in particular– some of the demands which end up on the political

agenda

– the ease with which conflicts can be resolved

• Example: variation ways in which regional and cultural differences are expressed and dealt with in federal and unity systems

Variations in power of political executives

UK:

• Unwritten constitution

• Parliamentary system: – Prime Minister and Cabinet serve with the

confidence of parliament– Because the single member plurality electoral

system usually manufactures majorities, the government usually has the support of a parliamentary majority

Some questions:

• How powerful are the political executives in different forms of liberal democracies?

• What role do assemblies play? Are legislative assemblies capable of controlling political executives?– If so how?– What differences do parties and party systems

make?

• What difference does federalism make?