Separation of powers, a classic doctrine of liberal politics, is associated with both Locke and Montesquieu, and is supposed to typify, above that of all other countries, the structure of the US Constitution. The idea is that the dangers of political power overcoming the public interest will be minimized if the different sorts of legal power are distinguished and handed to separate bodies for exercise. The three forms of power that are usually identified are the rule-making power (legislature), the power to apply rules and policies (executive) and the power to try alleged offenders against these rules (judiciary).
If these three types of power are rigorously separated, with checks against the usurpation of one type of power by another agency, it is thought that the utilization of power will be kept under control. Furthermore it is seen as inherently likely that abuse of power will arise if, for example, the same body both makes a rule and decides if someone has broken it.
Few political systems operate, even in theory, by a strict separation of power—the role of judicial power in the United Kingdom, for example, is less than clear, and both parliament, the legislative body, and the cabinet, as the executive, interpenetrate each other’s area. (This has begun to be politically controversial at the beginning of the 21st century because of the role of the Lord Chancellor, who is the head of the judiciary, the presiding officer of the House of Lords, and a cabinet member heading an executive department. Even the senior judiciary have called for an end to this anomaly.) However, the distinction between legislature and executive is valid, and keeping at least roughly to it not only reduces the dangers of abuse of power, but probably makes for more efficient government. One of the major problems with totalitarian political systems, or with one-party states and military dictatorships, is that the desires of one major group are not only politically dominant, but are exercised in all three fields. The doctrine is closely linked to the idea of the rule of law, which absolutely requires a separation between at least the executive and judiciary.
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