European Government and Politics Governing Institutions

Britain

The  three  forms  of  government  that  will  be  examined  in  this  paper  include  broadly,  the  Parliamentary  system  and  the  Presidential  systems  existing  in  Britain,  France  and  Germany.  Any  comparative  study  of  governing  institutions  involves  an  understanding  of  the  governing  institutions  prevailing  in  different  countries.  All  governmental  institutions  comprise  a  Legislature,  an  Executive  and  a  Judiciary.  Differences  between  governmental  institutions  primarily  lie  in  how  these  three organs  of  government  are  related  to  each  other  and  the  extent  of  their  functions.
     
Traditionally,  Britain  consists  of  a  parliamentary  form  of  government.  A  parliamentary  government  is  one  where  the  most  important  and  powerful  office  belongs  to  the  prime  minister.  In  this  form  of  government,  the  legislature  and  the  executive  arms  of  the  government are  closely  related,  with  the  executive  being  involved  in  the  working  of  the  legislature  and  the  executive  being  formed  out  of  the  legislature.  In  Britain,  the  legislature  comprises  the  two  houses  of  government,  that  is,  the  House  of  Lords  (the  upper  house)  and  the  House  of  Commons  (the  lower  house).  The  House  of  Lords  is  a  non-elective  body  and  consists  of  both  hereditary  and  life  members  who  are  called  Peers.  The  strength  of  the  House  of  Lords  is  over  900  members  and  a  quorum  of  30  members  is  the  minimum  for  conducting  proceedings  in  the  House.  The  House  of  Commons  comprises  the  elected  representatives  of  the  country.  Since  Britain  has  a  bi-party  system,  members  of  the  legislature  mainly  come  from  the  two  major  parties,  namely,  the  Labour  and  the  Conservative.  Elections  for  forming  the  government  are  held  every  five  years  and  the party  that  secures  a  majority  of  votes  polled  forms  the government  with  the leader  of  the  party  assuming  the  post  of  prime  minister.  It  falls  upon  the  prime  minister  to  form  the  executive  and  he  appoints  his  ministers  and  Cabinet  members  with the  approval  of  the  British  Monarch.  While  the  monarch  and  the  prime  minister  together  form  the  executive  in  Britain,  the  monarch  is  the  constitutional  head  of  the  government  and  his  powers  are  mostly  ceremonial.  It  is  the  prime  minister  who  is  the  real  head  of  the  government.  However,  there is  a  close  collaboration  between  the  prime  minister  and  the  monarch  with  the  prime minister  having  to  meet  with  the  monarch  and  discuss  matters  relating  to  the  running  of  the  government.  The  House  of  Commons  is more  powerful  than  the  House  of  Lords and  money  bills  can  be  initiated  only  in  the  House  of  Commons,  thus  the  lower  chamber  of  parliament  controls  the  purse  of  the  government.
     
The  judiciary  is  the  third organ  of  government.  In  the  United Kingdom,  there  is  no  single  judicial  system  and  the  judiciary  of  Britain  consists  of  the  judiciary  of  England  and  Wales.  The  House  of  Lords  is  the  highest  court  of  appeals  both  in  civil  and  criminal  cases.  Since  Britain  does  not  have  a  written  constitution,  there  is  an  absence  of  the system  of  judicial  review  which  enables  the  judiciary  to  act  as  the  interpreter   and  guardian  of  the  constitution.  The  courts  in  England  therefore  cannot  decide  on  the  merit  of  any  law  passed  by  the parliament.  An  important  feature  of  the  judicial  system  in  Britain  is  rule  of  law  which  implies  that  every  person  is  governed  by  the  same  law,  punishment  is  meted  out  only  if  a  breach  of  law has  been  committed  and  the  law  protects  the  freedom  and  rights  of  the  person.  The  British  courts  use   three  types  of  laws  -  the  Cannon  law,  the  Statutory  law  and  the  law  of  Equity.  The  judiciary  functions  on  the  basis  of  a  jury  system  and  open  trial.

Germany
In  Germany,  which  is  a  Federal  Parliamentary  Democratic  Republic,  the  parliamentary  system  of  government  prevails.  In  contrast  to  the  two  forms  of  governmental  systems  discussed  above,  Germany  has  a  multi-party  system  unlike  Britain  and  similar  to  that  existing  in  France.  In  other  words,  while  the  political  system  in  Britain  is  dominated  by  two  major  parties,  in  Germany  there  are  several  parties  that  contest  elections.  Among  these  the  two  main   parties  are  the  Socialist  Democratic  Party  and  the  Christian  Democratic  Union.  The  other  parties  such  as  the  Alliance  90  or  the  Greens,  the  Free  Democratic  Party  and  Delinke  support  the  SPD  or  the  CDU.  Another  important  characteristic  is  that  in  Germany,  coalition  politics  has  dominated  and  the  SDP  and  CDU,  despite  being  dominant,  have  failed  to  secure  a  complete  majority  in  the  elections.  Therefore  the  other  parties  have  systematically  supported  either  the  SDP  or  the  CDU  in  forming  the  government.
       
The  constitutional  framework  adopted  in  1949  known  as  the  Grundgesetz,  or  the  basic  law,  has  been  in  effect  even  after  1990.  The  executive  in  Germany  is  comprised  of  the Chancellor  who  is  equivalent  to  a  prime  minister  and  holds  office  for  a period  of  four  years  and  the  President  who  holds  office  for  a  period  of  five  years.  The  Chancellor  is  the  head  of  the  government  while  the  President  is the  head  of  the  state.  Like  a  parliamentary  system,  the  executive  functions  in  close  collaboration  with  the  legislature.
       
The  legislature  in  germany  consists  of  the  Federal  Diet  or  the  Bundestag  and  the  Federal  Council  or  the  Bundesrat.  The  Bundestag  is  a  directly  elected  body  through  the  system  of  proportional  representation.  The  Bundesrat  consists  of  the  representatives  of  the  16  federal  states  who  are  also  members  of  the  state  Cabinet.  The  Bundestag  has  the  power  to  remove  the  Chancellor  by  passing  a  motion  of  no-confidence.
       
The  judiciary  in  Germany  is  independent  of  both  the  executive  and  the  legislature  and  follows  the  concept  of  Judicial  Review.  Almost  all  state  actions  are  therefore  subject  to  interpretation  by  the  courts.  In  Germany,  a  complex  and  hierarchical  system  of  appeals  exists  with  separate  branches  dealing  with  administrative,  taxation,  labour  and  security  aspects.  In  addition,  there  exists  a  Constitutional  Court  which  handles  violation  of  constitutional  rights  after  the  regular  appeals  system  has  been  exhausted.

France
Arguably,  France  is  the  seat  of  modern  democracy  following  the  French  Revolutions  of  1789.  Like  Germany,  politics  in  France  in  its  present  form  is  of  recent  origin  from  1958  to  the  Fifth  Republic.  While  the  government  in  Britain  and  Germany  is  Prime  Ministerial,  the  French  government  is  semi-Presidential.  In  effect  the  executive  arm  of  the  government  consists  of  two  heads  of  government  where  the  President  is  the  head  of  state  and  the  Prime  Minister  is  head  of  government.  On  the  other  hand,  unlike  in  Britain  and  very  much  similar  to  Germany,  France  has  a  pluralist  and  multi-party  system  of  politics.  The  French  Presidency  is  the  oldest  in  Europe.  France  has  had  five  Republics  and  the  powers  and  functions  of  the  President  has  varied  in  these  five  Republics.  Parliamentary  system  of  government  was  in  order  in  the  Third  and  Fourth  Republics  which  made  the  presidential  office  a  nominal  one,  where  as  in  the  Fifth  Republic,  the  President  has  been  vested  with  more  powers.  Thus,  although  there  exist  two  heads  of  government,  the  President  is  more  powerful  in  comparison  to  the  prime  minister  unlike  in   a  parliamentary  system.  In  addition,  where  as  previously  the  Presidential  tenure  was  seven  years,,  it  has  been  cut  down  to  five   years.  The  prime  minister  is  the  leader  of  the  majority  party  or  coalition  and  can  be  appointed  by  the  president  indefinitely.  He  has  no  fixed  tenure.  The  prime  minister  forms  and  heads  the  Council  of  Ministers  whose  sessions,  in  turn  are  chaired  by  the  president.
         
The  legislature  consists  of  the  National  Assembly  which is  the  lower  house  and  represents  single-member  constituencies  and  the  Senate  which  is  the  upper  house  and  represents  mainland  France  and  its  13  overseas  territories.  The  lower  house  is  in  charge  of  conducting  the  daily  proceedings  of  the  government  while  the  Senate  looks  after  constitutional  and  foreign  matters.
         
The  judiciary  in  France  is  composed  of  a  two-tier  system,  one  relating  to  the  judicial  branch  dealing  with  civil  and  criminal  law  and  the  other  relating  to  the  administrative  branch.  France  has  a  written  constitution  and  therefore  laws  can  only  be  interpreted  by  the  judiciary  in  accordance  with  the  process of  judicial  review.    The  Cour  de  Cassation  is  the  highest  court  of  appeals  which  is  headed  by  six  chief  judges  appointed  by  the president.  All judicial  appointments  to  the  Supreme  Court  are  appointments  for  life  and  all former  French  presidents  are  de  jure  members  of  the  Constitutional  Court.

In  conclusion,  it  can  be  said  that  the  merits of  the  presidential  system  involving  a  fixed  tenure  and  separation  of  powers  and  more  important  than  a  parliamentary  system.  Similarly,  a  multi-party  system  offers  more  representation  and  accountability  than  a  bi-party  system.

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