legislature

	Lower House	Upper House	(Combined Name)
France	National Assembly	Senate	Parliament
USA	House of Representatives	Senate	Congress
India	House of the People	Council of States	Indian Parliament
UK	House of Commons	House of Lords	Houses of Parliament
China	Unicameral		National People’s Congress
Nepal	Unicameral		Constitutional Assembly

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nThe 3 Branches of Government

nThe Separation of Powers

nRefers to «the granting of powers to each of the three branches or organs of any government, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial organs by a [written or unwritten] constitution.»

nIt divides the functions of government so that power is not concentrated in the same hands and each branch of government has the power to independently «check and balance» the powers of the others.

nIt is a device that can be used to avoid «tyranny» whether by an oppressive dictator, or by the masses.

nIn practice it does not necessarily guarantee freedoms and democracy, and powers are not always clearly separated.

nPresidential and Parliamentary Systems (1)

nThe 2 basic systems of government in liberal democracies, presidential and parliamentary systems, can be distinguished, perhaps most importantly, according to the relationship that exists between the different branches of government.

nIn presidential systems there is separation of power between executive & legislative branches which are elected separately. If one party controls the presidency & another the legislature it can cause «immobilism» or «gridlock» problems.

nIn parliamentary systems there is fusion of power between executive and legislative branches. The chief executive or prime minister (& typically ministers) is a member of the legislature, normally leading the party with most seats. S/he normally get the laws s/he wants passed with greater ease as s/he has backing of a majority of legislators.

nPresidential and Parliamentary Systems (2)

nFurther differences between presidential and parliamentary systems include the feature that in presidential systems the head of government is normally also head of state symbolizing the unity of the country and representing the state abroad. This makes the presidency an especially powerful position.

nIn parliamentary systems, however, the head of state is a position held by a person different to the head of government. The head of state may be elected (directly by the people or else by legislatures) or may be a monarch.

nPresidential and Parliamentary Systems (3)

nThe term of office for the chief executive (president) in a presidential system is fixed. Except under very exceptional circumstances s/he remains in office until the his/her term has ended (often 4 years, sometimes more). Then there must be a new election to choose a new head of government / state.

nIn parliamentary systems the prime minister’s term of office is typically much less stable. Legally s/he might serve for a fixed term (often 5 years) before having to face a new election, but if s/he loses the confidence of a majority in parliament (often the case with coalition governments) new elections must be held.

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nPresidential and Parliamentary Systems (4)

nIn presidential systems the president is not a member of the legislature and nor are his/her cabinet ministers. In fact, they may have limited political experience or attachment to political parties. (Someone from the legislature might be appointed as a minister, but must then resign from the legislature).

nIn parliamentary systems, the key cabinet ministers are typically leading figures from parliament who belong to the prime minister’s political party. They continue to be both members of the legislature and of the executive.

nPresidential and Parliamentary Systems (5)

nIn presidential systems there’s little regular mechanism for the executive to be questioned by the legislature. In parliamentary systems, however, the opposition normally has the right to regularly question the executive, (i.e. the prime minister and ministers) in parliament, known as the «question period» or «question time».

nCoalition governments are formed by 2 or more political parties, ministers typically included from all coalition partners. Conflicts are more likley in such governments, leading to breakdown of the coalition & new elections. The chief executive in a presidentail system is usually the candidate of one party &/or has gained a majority of votes & can not (normally) be removed by the legislature, so governments in presidential systems tend to be more stable.

nPresidential and Parliamentary Systems (6)

nIn Presidential systems both the legislature and the president are normally elected by the people. In parliamentary sytems, however, the people do not typically elect the chief executive (prime minister) or ministers. Instead, they elect the members of the legislature who (depending on which party wins how many seats) then choose/approve the new prime minister and ministers. In the first system, then, the method of choosing the chief executive is much more direct.

nPresidential and Parliamentary Systems (7)

nPresidential and Parliamentary Systems (8)

nIn the presidential system party discipline is usually weaker, so even if the president is the leader of the biggest political party, it doesn’t mean s/he can guarantee that the majority in the legislature will support him/her to pass the laws s/he wants. Passing legislation can be especially difficult because of the separation of powers.

nIn parliamentary systems, however, checks and balances don’t exist on the power of government, which is itself typically the dominating part of parliament (like a special committee in parliament).

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nRepresentation in Federal Systems (1)

n«Federations» are those states in which powers and sovereignty are constitutionally divided between the central government (which has authority and power throughout the whole federation) and the different political units (which may themselves be referred to as provinces, states etc) that make up the federation. States where all sovereignty is held by the central authorities are referred to as «unitary states».

nRepresentation in Federal Systems (2)

nRepresentation in Federal Systems (2)

nFederations typically have 2 «houses» or «chambers», or two parts to the legislative branch. We call these legislatures «bicameral legislatures» (as opposed to «unicameral legislatures» which have only 1 house /chamber). In federations one house (the lower house) normally represents the people & their interests, while the second house (upper house) represents the states & their interests. Often representation for each part of the federation in the lower house is based on their proportion of the overall population, whereas representation in the upper house is based on equality of the different parts irrespective of population levels.

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nBicameral Legislatures (1)

nBicameral Legislatures (2)

nNot all states that have bicameral legislatures are federations however. In the UK for example, there is a bicameral system of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Such cases, however, are frequently a result of historical developments, particularly of the fact that in the past different houses / chambers in legisltures represented different classes in society.

nIn the medieval French assembly known as the «Estates General», for example, there were actually three estates (or chambers) representing the clergy, nobility and commoners respectively.

nFunctions of Legislatures (1)

nThe main and most obvious function of legislatures is to make laws. Though procedures vary in different states depending on their constitutions, it can be a long process to pass a new law or ammend an old one.

nDraft laws (proposed but not yet passed) are called «bills». Bills supported by the government usually have a better chance of becomming law, but most never actually do. They must often first be discussed and agreed to in special parliamentary committees, often more than once, and the process can be even more difficult to complete when there is a bicameral legislature, where each house must give approval.

nFunctions of Legislatures (2)

nAnother function of Legislatures is «constituency work». The legislator’s constituency is the area/district from which s/he is elected. Often it’s seen as a task of legislators to stay in contact with the people from their district, give them speeches about developments and talk to them about (and where possible help them with) their problems. The legislator sort of acts like a channel between central government and the districts.

nRelated is the function of «representation», that is legislators as representives of the interests of the people who have elected them. Of course not all are represented equally if at all! Do these «representatives» vote as the people who elected them would like?

nFunctions of Legislatures (3)

nSupervision and criticism of the government is also possible even in parliamentary sytems where there is no separation of powers. Through «question time» and other mechanisms the governments power can be partially checked (especially if there are strong opposition parties) and improvements made in government-supported bills.

nLegislatures also often have a task of making and ammending constitutions. Constitutions are usually written legal documents outlining the most fundamental principles for governing a state, with which other laws are expected to comply.

nFunctions of Legislatures (4)

nMost legislatures also have a degree of power over the state’s finances, such as approving budgets, that give them too a financial function.

nLikewise, legislatures sometimes have judicial and investigative functions, though typically restricted to certain areas such as judging whether the president has committed a serious crime or investigating issues of public concern regarding government abuse. Sometimes the investigative task may be «informal» with legislative committees producing reports, but not necessarily having a legal power to punish.

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china, france, america, uk, usa, nepal

	China	France	America	UK or Britain	India	Nepal
Official name	People's Republic of China (PRC)	French Republic	United States of America	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Norhtern Ireland	Repubic of India	Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal
Capital	Beijing	Paris	Washington, D.C.	London	New Delhi	Kathmandu
Largest city	Shanghai	Paris	New York City	London	Mumbai	Kathmandu
Official language	Standard Chinese	French	English	English	Hindi-English	Nepali
Demonym	Chinese	French	American	British, Briton	Indian	Nepali, Nepalese
Government	Socialist single-party state	Unitary, Semi-Presidential	Federal Presidential Constitutinal Republic	Unitary Parliamentary Constitutinal Monarchy	Federal parliamentary constitutinal republic	Federal Parliamentary republic
President	Xi Jinping	Francois Hollande	Barack Obama	Elizabeth II	Pranab Mukharjee	Ram Baran Yadav
Prime Minister	Li Keqiang	Manuel Valls		David Cameron	Narendra Modi	Sushil Koirala
Legislature	National People's Congress	Parliament	Congress	Parliament	Parliament of India	Constituent Assembly
Legislature type	Unicameral	Bicameral	Bicamreal	Bicameral	Bicameral	Unicameral
Upper House	-	Senate	Senate	House of Lords	Rajya Sabha
Lower House	-	National Assembly	House of Representatives	House of Commons	Lok Sabha
First Unification	221 BCE	486	July 4, 1776	1707 May 1		1768 September 25
Republic estd.	1-Jan-12	22 September 1792		Monarchy	1950 January 26	2008 May 28
PRC estd	1-Oct-49
Area	9596961 sq. km. (4th)	640679 sq. km (42nd)	9857306 sq.km. (3rd)	242495 sq. km. (80th)	3287590 sq. km. (7th)	147181 sq. km. (95th)
Population	1376049000 (1st)	67063000 (20th)	321605012 (3rd)	64511000 (22nd)	1276267000 (2nd)	26494504
GDP (PPP)	18.976 trillion USD (1st)	2580.75 billions USD	18.124 trillion (2nd)	2.549 trillion (10th)	7.997 trillion (3rd)	62.384 billion
GDP (nominal)	11.212 trillion USD (2nd)	2846.889 bilions USD	18.124 trillion (1st)	2.945 trillion (5th)	2.308 trillion (7th)	19.921 billion
HDI		0.884 (20th)	0.914 (5th)	0892 (14th)	0.586 (135th)	0.540 (145th)
Currency	Renminbi (yuan) Ұ (CNY)	Euro (EUR)	United States Dollar USD	Pound sterling	Indian rupee (INR)	Nepalese Rupee (NPR)
Time zone	UTC+8	UTC+1	UTC-4 to -12, +12, +11	UTC, UTC +1	IST (UTC+05.30)	UTC+5.45
Date format	yyyy-mm-dd	dd/mm/yyyy	mm/dd/yyyy	dd/mm/yyyy	dd-mm-yyyy	yyyy-mm-dd
Drives on the	right	right	right	left	left	left
Calling code	86	33	1	44	91	977
ISO 3166 code	CN	FR	US	GB	IN	NP
Internet TLD	.cn	.fr	.us .gov .mil .edu	.uk	.in	.np