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Transcript of Grigsby slides 10
Chapter 10
Comparative Politics IIIGoverning Democracies:
Executives, Legislatures, and Judiciaries
Executives
• Presidents• Elected
• Prime Ministers• Selected from
its own ranks
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, U.S. President George W. Bush, and Portugese Prime Minister Jose Durao Barroso,
European Parliaments• “Forming a
government” in Britain• Monarch invites the
leader of the largest party in the House of Commons to become prime minister and “form a government”
Queen Elizabeth II
European Parliaments
• “Constructive no confidence” in Germany• Chancellor of Germany
stronger than British prime minister
• Head of largest party in the lower house (Bundestag)
– Ousted only if the Bundestag votes in a replacement cabinet
– “Constructive no confidence” succeeded only once in 1982
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder
European Parliaments
• “Cohabitation” in France• Semipresidential
system• President elected for
7 years• Parliament elected
for 5 years
Premier Lionel Jospin and President Jacques Chirac
– President appoints premier from majority party in parliament
The Clinton Impeachment• Snapshot of American
politics:
• Moralistic• Example of morality
• Divided• 2/3 pro Clinton
• Partisan• Division on party lines
• Personality-driven• Normal (immature)• “Slick Willy”
• Public• Open to media
• Legalistic• Legal details
• Expensive• $40 million +
• Institutionalized• According to Constitution
• Distasteful• Partisn politics run amok
Roles of the Executive• Head of state
• Symbol of nation• Chief of government
• Responsible for making and carrying out policy decisions
• Party chief• Leaders of political party
• Commander in chief• Commands military
establishment• Most dangerous power
• Chief diplomat• Grant diplomatic
recognition• Negotiate trade deals• Executive agreements
• Dispenser of appointments• Patronage (3,000 jobs)
• Chief legislator• Law-making powers
Executive Leadership
• Hands-onCauses chief
executives to scatter and exhaust themselves
• Hands-off• Pay little attention to
crucial matters causing serious problems
• Rely on trusted subordinates
President Carter “Hands-On” Style of
leadership
Ronald Reagan with his horse "Little Man" at Rancho Del Cielo.
February, 1977.
Executive Leadership
• Middle Ground• Appeared to be
hands-off• Actually very active
• Preferred to let others take credit (or blame)
– “Hidden-hand presidency”
President Eisenhower
Barber’sPresidential Character
• Based on how much- presidents like political office- energy they put into it
Types of Presidential Character
• Active-positive• Enjoys being president and puts a lot of energy
into it. • Roosevelt, Kennedy, Bush Sr.
• Active-negative• Real “meanies” in office• Lots of energy but don’t enjoy relaxed power• Johnson, Nixon
Types of Presidential Character• Passive-positive
• Like being president, but little energy
• Prefer to delegate matters to subordinates
• Taft, Harding, ReaganPassive-negative– Politicians drafted for the job, don’t relish it– Little energy– Coolidge, Eisenhower
General Eisenhower
Disabled Presidents
• Woodrow Wilson• Strokes, poor health• Treaty of Versailles
• Franklin D. Roosevelt• Heart Failure, hypertension
• John F. Kennedy• Addison’s disease
• Ronald Reagan• Assassination attempt
Ellen Axson Wilson
Psychology of Power• Classic 1936 work of
Harold Lasswell• Politicians start out mentally
unbalanced• Have unusual need for power and dominance• Normal people find politics uninteresting
Plato– Even sane people who become too powerful in
high office go crazy. • They have to because they can trust no one
Solution– Limit power and have mechanisms to remove
officeholders who abuse it.
Cabinets• Major executive
divisions called department in U.S., ministry in most of the rest of the world.
• Who serves in a cabinet?• Parliamentary systems• Presidential systems
• Rise of noncabinet advisers• Chief of Staff• National Security Adviser
U.S. Treasury Department transfers its law enforcement units, including the Customs Service and the Secret Service, to the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, Treasury Secretary John Snow, and Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson
Expecting Too Much?• Presidents and Prime Ministers are expected
to• Deliver economic growth with low unemployment
and low inflation• Be responsible for anything that goes wrong• Delegate to subordinates (“hands-off”)
• What matters is getting reelected• Personality counts more than policy• Symbols count more than performance
How Do We Safeguard Democracy?
Electoral Punishment!
Legislatures
Executive Roles• Head of state
• Top leader, but with only symbolic duties
• Queen of England• King of Sweden
Head of government– The real working executive
• Prime minister, premier, or chancellor– Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair– Germany Chancellor Angela D. Merkel
– United States– President is both head of state and head of
government.
Presidential Democracy• Separation of power
between executive and legislative branches
• President combines head of state with chief of government rolesExecutive not easily ousted by legislatureLess dependent on legislative majority
Parliamentary System• Fusion of power between
executive and legislative branches
• Head of state distinct from chief of government
• Chief political official (usually prime minister) easily ousted
• Cabinet members are members of parliament
Separation and Fusion of Power• Government
• In Europe, a given cabinet• U.S. “administration”
• Executive-legislative deadlockVote of confidence– Major vote in parliament on which government
stands or falls. – Can oust cabinet on a no-confidence vote
Immobilism– Inability of coalition governments to solve major
questions.
Coalition
• Multiparty alliance to form a government
When no one party has majority of seats in parliament
Legislative Chambers
• Bicameral• Parliament having
two chambers, upper and lower
• Unicameral• Parliament with one
chamber
The Committee System
• Real power of modern legislatures
• Screen much proposed legislationCan make or break a proposal Includes- Standing (permanent) committees- Special ad hoc committees- Subcommittees
A Closer Look at Legislatures
• Lawmaking• Pass laws, few originate
laws• Constituency work
Supervision and criticism of government– Keeping a critical eye on the executive
Education– Keep citizenry informed
Representation– Chief function to represent the people
Decline of Legislatures• Structural disadvantages
• Legislators obey party whips• U.S. lacks efficiency
• Lack of expertise• Must rely on experts
• Psychological disadvantages• A President can have charisma, but a legislature
cannot• “President worship”
Decline of Legislatures• The absentee problem• Lack of turnover• Dilemma of parliaments
• To get things done, power must be concentrated, as in the hands of a powerful executive.
• To keep things democratic, power must be dispersed, divided between an executive and a legislature.
Judiciaries
Types of Law
• Positive law• Written by humans and
accepted over time
Criminal law– Regulates the conduct of individuals, defines
crimes, and provides punishment for violations• Infractions• Misdemeanors• Felonies
• U.S. criminal law codified or statutory
Types of Law• Civil law
• Private matters brought to court by individuals, not by governments
• Marriage and divorce, inheritance
Constitutional law– Grows out of a country’s basic documents– U.S. Supreme Court interprets the Constitution– Judicial review of legislation
Types of Law
• Administrative law• Regulatory orders by
government agencies
International law– Guides relations among nations– Include treaties, authority, and customs– Reciprocity and consistency– No enforcement apparatus
Types of Law
• Common law• “Judge-made law”; old
decisions built up over the centuries
Code law– Laws arranged in books, usually updated Roman
lawCanon law– Laws of the Roman Catholic Church, based on
Roman law
The Roots of Law
• Higher law• Attributed to God or the
Creator and thus higher than laws made by humans
– People are “endowed by their Creator” with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness…-- rights that no just government can take away.
Natural law– That which comes from nature, understood by
reasoning.
John Locke
U.S. Federal Court System
U.S. Supreme Court
Circuit Courts
District Courts
Diversity Jurisdiction:Litigants who are citizens of different states
State Court System
CA Supreme Court
Court of Appeals
Superior Courts
Adversary Process:Two sides: Plaintiff and Defendant
Judges
• Federal Judges• Nominated by President and appointed
with the advice and consent of the Senate• Position held during “good behavior”
• State Judges• Either popularly elected or appointed• Terms range up to 14 years
Comparing Courts• British court system
• Common law traditions• Divided into civil and criminal
branches– Judges
• All judges appointed by the Monarch on advice of prime minister
• Lifetime tenure• Lack power of judicial review
– No written constitution
– Lawyers• Barristers represent clients in court• Solicitors handle all other legal matters
Comparing Courts• European court system
• Based on French system• No separate civil/criminal divisions• Accused bears burden of proving innocence• Lawyers
• Court questions witnesses, not lawyers• Lawyers try to sway jury and show factual mistakes• Role not as vital as in U.S./British systems
Role of the Courts
• Judicial review- Marbury v. Madison (1803)• Supreme Court’s power to
review the constitutionality of laws
Political role– Appointment of judges– Impact on laws
Chief Justice John Marshall
Influences on Judges
• Geography• Outlook and background • Occupational background• Party affiliation• Conception of judicial role• Colleagues’ opinions• Public opinion
Warren Court
• Civil rights• Brown v. Bd. Of Ed of Topeka (1954)
• Reversed “separate but equal” doctrine• Ordered desegregation of schools
• Lombard v. Louisiana (1963)• Supported the sit-in
Warren Court• Criminal justice
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)• Evidence seized without
warrant was inadmissible in state court
– Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)• Indigent defendants must be provided counsel
– Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)• Suspect could not be denied right to lawyer during
police questioning– Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
• Once detained by police, suspect must be told rights
Warren Court• Legislative
reapportionment• Outlawed
“gerrymandering”– Unequal representation denied citizens
their 14th Amendment rights– States must apply the principle of “one
person, one vote” in redrawing electoral lines
Post-Warren Courts
• Burger Court (1969 –1986)• 1978 Bakke Case
• Reverse discrimination• 1984 added “good faith exception” to the
Mapp rule• Rehnquist Court (1986-present)
• Burning of the American flag protected form of free speech
• Our current Supreme Court
“Even when laws have been
written down, they ought not always remain
unaltered.”-- Aristotle