INTRODUCTION TO PARLIAMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT

“INTRODUCTION TO PARLIAMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT”

DEFINITION:-

Parliamentary system can be defined as:                                                   “Representative system that features FUSION OF POWER rather than SEPARATION OF POWER between the executive and legislative institutions and power” .

NATURE OF PARLIMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT:

Parliamentary form of government is a one in which legislative and executive organs of the state are closely connected and interdependent on each other for the affairs of the state.

As Garner says, these are "inextricably mingled".

It has 2 executives:

·                    Binomial executive (hereditary monarch like the British queen).

·                   Titular executive (an elected president in India or in Italy).

ORGANS OF PARLIMENTARY FORM OF GOVERNMENT:

There are 4 organs of the parliamentary form of government:

·                    the king or president

·                    the prime minister

·                    the cabinet or councils of minister

·                    The parliament.

The TITULAR HEAD OF STATE, king or president, is the nominal executive.

 In theory, he may possess many powers but in practice he cannot exercise them without the consent and advice of the prime minister.

As Bagehot says: "he reigns but does not rule".

The real executive is the CABINET OR THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS, HEADED BY PRIME MINISTER. The prime minister and all other ministers are the members of parliament. They are responsible to the titular head of the state for their acts and policies, but really to the parliament.

Cabinet as a whole is responsible to parliament. Whenever a new cabinet is to be formed, the king summons the leader of the majority party in the parliament to form a government. He then becomes the prime minister and selects all other ministers from his party. 

The LEGISLATURE OR THE PARLIAMENT is the most important organ of the parliamentary form of government. It possesses supreme power or sovereignty in the law or constitution. The cabinet is responsible to it. It holds office only so long as it has the confidence of the parliament.

If the cabinet loses the support of the parliament. It passes the vote of no confidence against it. In this case either the ministry resigns, and gives place to new one which has the support of the majority in the parliament or it dissolves the parliament and appeals to electorate.

                        How does it work:
A system of government in which the power to make and execute laws is held by a parliament. Britain has a parliamentary system of government, one of the oldest in the world. The United States does not; its legislature, the Congress, passes the laws, and a separate part of government, the executive branch, carries them out. Legislatures called parliaments operate under a parliamentary system of government in which the executive is constitutionally answerable to the parliament. Parliaments may consist of chambers or houses, and are usually either bicameral or unicameral although more complex models exist, or have existed. It consists of a upper chamber and a lower chamber. An upper chamber is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. An upper house is often called a senate. In parliamentary systems the upper house is frequently seen as an advisory or revising chamber; for this reason its powers of direct action are often reduced in some way. Whereas the lower chamber has more powers in bicameral legislature as compared to the upper one. Under parliamentary systems it is usually the lower house alone that designates the head of government or prime minister. But even in this there are some exceptions however, such as the Prime Minister of Japan, who is formally selected with the approval of both houses. And thus the legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.
A nation's Prime Minister (PM) is almost always the leader of the majority party in the lower house of parliament, but only holds his or her office as long as the "confidence of the house" is maintained. If members of the lower house lose faith in the leader for whatever reason, they can call a vote of no confidence and force the PM to resign. This can be particularly dangerous to a government when the distribution of seats is relatively even, in which case a new election is often called shortly thereafter. However, in case of general discontent with the head of government, his replacement can be made very smoothly without all the complications that it represents in the case of a presidential system.

                

ADVANTAGES OF PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT:-

The cabinet and parliamentary system of government has following merits and advantages:

STRENGTHENS THE REALTION B/W EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATURE:

As the members of cabinet are also the members of the parliament, there is a close collaboration and intimate interdependence between executive and legislature. The ministers participate in all debates, discussions and decisions of the legislature, and are responsible to it. There is a unity of purpose and harmony between them. The close harmony between the cabinet and parliament gives this system of government the merits of promptitude, efficiency and confidence in its actions and policies.

ENSURES RESPONSIBILITY AND CHECKS AUTOCRACY:

The chief merit of the cabinet system is the responsible form of government. It ensures the responsibility of those who govern to those who are governed. This responsibility is firstly and directly to the members of parliament. The ministers are constantly criticized by the members of parliament especially by those of opposition. It is impossible for an irresponsible ministry to hold office for long.It resigns as soon a it loses the confidence of the majority in the legislature.

QUICKER LEGISLATIVE ACTION:

One of the commonly attributed advantages to parliamentary systems is that it's faster and easier to pass legislation^. This is because the executive branch is dependent upon the direct or indirect support of the legislative branch and often includes members of the legislature. Thus, this would amount to the executive (as the majority party or coalition of parties in the legislature) possessing more votes in order to pass legislation.

DIVISION OF POWER:

Parliamentarianism has attractive features for nations that are ethnically, racially, or ideologically divided. In a unipersonal presidential system, all executive power is concentrated in the president. In a parliamentary system, with a collegial executive, power is more divided.

RESPONSIBLE AND CHALLENGABLE:

The main virtue of this government is responsibility. As the members of the majority party in the Legislature form the ministry, there is little chance of conflict between the legislature and the administrative department. As the administration is conducted by the elected representatives of the people, the best law and improved type of administration are possible. In this system the cabinet is responsible to the legislature. So the ministers cannot be arbitrary in their policies and activities. If they are arbitrary the ministers are compelled to resign by the vote of no confidence.

This administrative system is easily changeable. The legislature can remove the cabinet ministers from power if they are considered unfit. Again if the Legislature is against the public opinion, the Head of the state on the advice of the cabinet ministry can dissolve the parliament. By this system such as balance can be maintained.

Demerits:

1. Weak Separation of Powers:

In this system, the principle of separation of powers is violated. As the ministers are the members of the ruling party or coalition, they dominate policy-making though, in principle, policy-making is the domain of the legislature.

2. Cabinet Dictatorship:

The Council of Ministers, with the support of the majority in the lower house of the legislature, tends to be authoritarian and irresponsible. Being assured of the support of the majority, it does not care for the feelings and views of opposition. It has also little respect for the legislature as the majority is bound to support the government. Thus, the Cabinet Government is reduced to party government, and parliamentary democracy is turned into Cabinet Dictatorship.

3. In-continuity in Policies:

As the Council of Ministers does not enjoy a fixed tenure, it is not able to adopt any bold, long-term policy. The problem is compounded I in a coalition government which is often unstable. The coalition partners tend to fight among themselves. As a result, they fail to adopt any bold policy.

4. Partisanship:

In a Parliamentary system, political parties are guided more by partisan motives than by national or people's interests. The ruling party and the opposition see each other as enemies. While the ruling party seldom sees any merit in criticizing the opposition, the opposition often opposes the government for the sake of opposition.

5. Government by Incompetent Persons:

The Parliamentary government lacks competence and effectiveness, because the ministers are mostly incompetents. As the ministers have to be appointed from among the members of the legislature, the scope for appointing talented and competent people as ministers is limited. Many times, important considerations in appointing ministers are not skill, competence and talent but caste, religion, community faction and influence in the party.

6. Control by Bureaucracy:

While the Cabinet is powerful, more powerful is the bureaucracy. The ministers, being mostly incompetent, depend upon civil servants for expert advice and guidance. The civil servants exercise real powers in the name of minister. They do not come out to the front. They are not accountable to the legislature.

   7. Fail in Emergency:

The Parliamentary form of government, no doubt, has certain gaps. In particular, it is handicapped by immense partisanship, lack of expertise, and difficulty in taking prompt decisions during crises and emergency situation. It has no capability to take sudden decision.

8. Indirect selection of Prime Minister:

In parliamentary form of government the prime minister does not elected by the will of the public. The parliamentarians of winning party elect the prime minister according to their own will and interests.  So there are chances that the prime minister does not fulfill the public demands.

9. Expensive Government system:

In parliamentary form of government there are a hundreds of parliamentarians in government. And the expenses of their protocol and other benefits have huge burden on national treasury. And there are a lot of expenses on elections process as well.