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Political Institutions
Presentation Outline
1) Presidential Systems2) Parliamentary Systems3) Mixed Systems4) Authoritarian Systems5) Party Systems6) Electoral Systems7) Legal Systems
Democracies
1) Presidential Systems
• Power is evenly divided between three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial)
• There are separate elections for the legislative and executive branches
• The President is both head of the government and head of the state and is directly accountable to the citizens who voted for him/her
Checks and Balances
• Presidents can veto laws passed by the legislative branch•The legislative branch can overturn these vetoes and even impeach or remove a president with a 66% majority vote
States which use presidential systems
United States Mexico Nigeria
Brazil Argentina Philippines
2) Parliamentary Systems
• There are three branches (executive, legislative, and judicial)
• However, the executive and legislative branches are fused together
• Unlike presidential systems, there is only one election for the legislative branch
• The executive branch is chosen by the legislative branch
Executive
A Fused System
Legislative
Prime MinisterMonarch
Civil Service Cabinet
Members of Parliament
• The Prime Minister is only the head of government
• The Monarch is the head of state• The Prime Minister is NOT directly
accountable to the citizens• Rather, the Prime Minister is accountable to
Parliament which has the power the defeat his/her government with a vote of confidence
States which use parliamentary systems: The ones colored orange have a president as figurehead and head of state. The ones colored red have a monarch as figurehead and head of state.
3) Mixed Systems• Semi-presidential or mixed presidential-
parliamentary systems have a president and a prime minister
• The president is more powerful and appoints the prime minister in this system
• The president is the head of state and is considered the chief of government
• The prime minister is only the head of the parliament
• The president is directly elected by citizens
States which use mixed systems
Russia South Korea
France
4) Authoritarian systems
• Authoritarian systems may have president, chairman, or general
• Elections are NOT competitive and the head of state and head of government is NOT accountable to his/her citizens
• Normally only one party is permitted • This includes: communist, fascist, and military
dictatorships; theocracies and absolute monarchies
States which currently use authoritarian systems
China North Korea Vietnam
Saudi Arabia
5) Party Systems
• Democratic states have either two party or multi-party systems
• States which use proportional representation tend to have more political parties
• Parties are generally organized and established around a common political ideology
Political Spectrum
Left Right
Traditional spectrum
A more accurate way to understand political ideology
U.K. Parties
6)Electoral Systems
• Democratic systems elect leaders and representatives using either a single-member-district (SMD) system or a proportional representation (PR) system
• Some states such as Mexico use both
Single Member District (SMD)
• Candidates must be elected in districts across the state• Only the candidate with the most votes (plurality)
wins the district and goes to the national parliament• Candidates finishing in second or third place do not go
to parliament
Candidates Party % VoteLibby Davies New Democratic
Party36 (winner)
Terry Collins Liberal Party 28Isabel Valdez Green Party 20Susan Chong Conservative 16
Vancouver-East District in Canada
• Less parties tend to be elected to parliament• The largest party tends to have an
exaggerated victory• Majority governments are more common
Party Popular Vote % Seats won in the Commons
% of seats held in the Commons
Conservatives 36.1 306 47Labour 29 258 39Liberal Democrats 23 57 8.7
*Based on a 650 seat House of Commons326 seats needed to form a majority government
2010 UK Election Results
Proportional Representation (PR)
• Voters normally choose political parties rather than candidates
• Seats are determined proportionally• A party which receives 25% of the vote will get
25% of the seats in parliament• Parties determine which candidates will fill the
seats in parliament• Results in many more parties elected to parliament
2011 Canadian Election Results
7) Legal systems
• Most states use civil code legal systems (China, Iran, Mexico, Russia) where all laws are written down
• In the U.K. and other former British colonies common law is used where laws are based on precedents or previous decisions of judges
Judicial Review
• Many democratic states have judicial review• Judicial review gives the supreme court the
power to overturn decisions made by the president or legislature which are unconstitutional
• Judicial review is seen as another way to ensure that leaders do not abuse their political power
• The United States• Russia• Nigeria• Mexico
States with the powers of judicial review:
States without the powers of judicial review:•The U.K.•China•Iran