One House or Two?

One House/unicameral system

• Generally elected by PR

Two House/bicameral system

• Generally members of the two houses are elected by different means or with different constituencies

 
• Lower house usually more powerful (upper house can only delay legislation or only votes on certain types of legislation)

 
• Lower house members elected more frequently

 
• Upper house often created to represent specialized interests, such as:

• sub-national states (US, Germany)t
• the aristocracy (GB), or
• occupational groupings (Ireland)

Fixed or Variable Terms?

• Are terms fixed (usually the case with SMDP systems) or variable (at the pleasure of PM or President)?

 
• No confidence votes

Political Institutions: Legislatures and the Executive

Two basic relationships:
 

Parliamentarian
Legislature sits over the bureaucracy (PM is head of government)

Presidential
Legislature and executive recognized as separate branches

President serves a chief executive officer and head of government

President is usually elected directly and nationally; no one in legislature is ­-> creates source of presidential power

• Existence of the post of president does not mean the political system is presidential --> have to look at powers

Political Institutions: The Bureaucracy

Critical Question:

• What is the role of the bureaucracy in developing and implementing rules?
  
  
• Responses range on a continuum from:
  
  
• Technocratic
• Bureaucracy seen as reservoir of skilled, impartial talent.
  
  
• Bureaucrats given wide latitude in developing legislation and implementing it.
  
  
• Few political appointees; little oversight
  
  
• Political
• Assumes that bureaucratic decision making is inherently political
  
  
• Bureaucrats are unelected and not popularly accountable
  
  
• Need to control bureaucratic discretion
  
  
• Subordinate it to political ends and political appointees