Parliamentary Systems

Parliamentary Systems

Democracies usually incorporate a structure that divides governmental power. Some states—the United States is a frequent example—use presidential systems that have three separate centers of power: the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Most other democracies (according to the CIA's World Factbook there are 53) use some variation of the parliamentary systems. Parliamentary systems embed primary governmental responsibility in the national assembly or legislature, the place where representatives "parler" or talk. In general, however, parliaments offer a way of organizing governmental power that does not separate the executive from the legislative body, that is, the executive and legislature branches are "fused." This means that these branches cannot check each other as in presidential systems. This may lead to these branches working cooperatively, enhancing effectiveness in policy creation and implementation.

The context within which parliamentary systems function, especially whether in two-party or multiparty states, greatly affects operations. In two-party, or majoritarian, states, one of two major parties typically wins a majority of legislative seats. This describes the British state, which many use to illustrate such a model. Conversely, in multiparty states such as Belgium, often no party wins more than a plurality of seats. Frequently, this results from the use of proportional representation (PR) voting.

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