Unit 3 Questions
Please answer each of the following questions. If you are taking this course in a group you may then meet to discuss your answers.
Political Systems
- Which legislative type best describes your parliament (presidential, parliamentary, hybrid, or mixed)?
- What roles does your parliament play in making public policy? In oversight? Are parliament’s roles in these area changing, or staying about the same?
- What role, if any, do individual legislators play in the policy making process? How much difference does their being majority or minority legislators make?
Electoral Systems
- Describe the method through which representatives are elected in your country.
- What impact does the electoral system have on the way legislators behave once they are in office (i.e., with regard to representation, party-discipline, etc.)?
- Describe what you consider to be the most beneficial/least beneficial aspects of the system through which parliament members are elected in your country.
Formal Powers
- Using Table II, above, discuss some of the formal powers your parliament possesses, or does not possess. (You may need to check your constitution, Rule of Order, or other documents.)
- What impact do you think your nation’s political and electoral systems may have on the formal powers your legislature possesses?
- Were you surprised to learn of specific powers your legislature possesses?
- Were there powers you thought your legislature possessed that it does not?
Political Will/Political Space
- Are there powers your legislature possesses that it is not using? If yes, what are they?
- If you answered “yes” to question 11, where do those powers seem to actually reside?
Parliamentary Technical Capacity
- Is the technical capacity of your parliament growing, diminishing, or staying about the same?
We mentioned at the beginning of this unit that “…the powers and performance of legislatures are not static. The balance of power is fluid in every political system, with legislatures sometimes gaining, sometimes losing power relative to other actors.” In our final unit we will consider several ways parliaments are attempting to strengthen themselves and to become more effective.
Relevant Internet Resources
Commonwealth Parliamentary Association
http://www.cpahq.org/
UNDP Parliamentary Strengthening Reference Material
http://magnet.undp.org/Docs/parliaments/ Viewed October 18, 2005. UNDP
Select Bibliography
James Madison, Federalist No. 48, These Departments Should Not Be So Far Separated as to Have No Constitutional Control Over Each Other, from the New York Packet. February 1, 1788.
The Impact of Electoral Design on the Legislature. UNDP Internet publication available at http://magnet.undp.org/Docs/parliaments/.
Presidential and Parliamentary Legislatures Compared. USAID Handbook on Legislative Strengthening. February 2000. Appendix B. and Governing Systems and Executive Legislative Relations, UNDP Parliamentary Strengthening Reference Material.
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