Western Political Systems PDF

The first Lecture Introduction What Is Comparative Politics? Comparative politics: is the study and comparison of politics across Countries. Studying politics in this way helps examine major questions of political science For example: 1. why do some countries have democratic regimes...

The first Lecture Introduction What Is Comparative Politics? Comparative politics: is the study and comparison of politics across Countries. Studying politics in this way helps examine major questions of political science For example: 1. why do some countries have democratic regimes whereas others experience authoritarianism? 2. Why and how do regimes change? 3. Why do some countries experience affluence and growth, but others endure poverty and decline?  In this course we describe and analyze the political systems of 4 countries (USA – UK- France- Germany) Focus on: 1. major geographic and demographic features 2. The origins and development of their state 3. The political regimes 4. patterns of political conflict and competition. Comparing States States are organizations that maintain a monopoly of violence over a territory. The term state sometimes refers to a subnational government The concept of state is narrower than the notion of country. Political scientists also distinguish between the state and the government, considering the government to be the leadership or elite that administers the state. States also differ widely in their origins and historical development. Some countries (for example France, and the United Kingdom) have long histories of statehood. Other political systems, such as Germany, experienced the creation of a unified state only after long periods of division.  States differ in their level of organization, effectiveness, and stability. The power of a state depends in part on its legitimacy. traditional legitimacy: in which the state is obeyed because it has a long tradition of being obeyed. Ex: In the United Kingdom, the monarchy is a source of traditional legitimacy that complements the rational-legal legitimacy of the state. charismatic legitimacy: that is, its identification with the magnetic appeal of a leader or movement. rational- legal legitimacy: a system of laws and procedures that becomes highly institutionalized. most modern states derive their legitimacy from rational- legal sources.  States differ in their ability to preserve their sovereignty and carry out the functions of maintaining law and order. Strong states: can perform the tasks of defending their borders from outside attacks and defending their authority from internal non-state rivals. Weak states: have trouble carrying out those basic tasks and often suffer from endemic internal violence, poor infrastructure, and the inability to collect taxes and enforce the rule of law. failed states: an extreme, weak states may experience a complete loss of legitimacy and power and may be overwhelmed by anarchy and violence. Unitary states vs. Federal states Comparing Regimes Political regimes are the norms and rules regarding individual freedoms and collective equality, the focus of power, and the use of that power (the rules of the game governing the exercise of power) Democratic regimes Vs. Authoritarian regimes Democratic regimes have rules that emphasize a large role for the public in governance, protect basic rights and freedoms, and attempt to ensure basic transparency of and accountability for government actions. Authoritarian regimes limit the role of the public in decision making and often deny citizens’ basic rights and restrict their freedoms. political regimes whether democratic or not, establish a number of political institutions (The executive, The legislature, The judiciary)  The powers of these political institutions and the relationships among them vary considerably across regimes (The parliamentary system Vs. The presidential system) second Lecture UNITED KINGDOM  UNITED KINGDOM Why Study This Case? As the primogenitor of modern democracy, the UK political system is at once strikingly unique and a model for many other liberal democracies. The United Kingdom is the world’s oldest democracy. Its transition to democracy was gradual, beginning with thirteenth- century limitations on absolute monarchs and continuing incrementally to the establishment of the rule of law in the seventeenth century and the extension of suffrage to women in the twentieth century. Unlike many other democracies, the United Kingdom cannot attach a specific date or event to the advent of its democracy. The United Kingdom is one of only a handful of democracies without a written constitution. The longevity and stability of its democracy have thus depended largely on both traditional legitimacy and a unique political culture of accommodation and moderation. Although its constitution is unwritten, many aspects of its “Westminster system” parliamentary system of democracy have been adopted by a number of the world’s other democracies. Major Geographic and Demographic Features Since 1801, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been the formal name of the United Kingdom. Great Britain itself consists of three nations (England, Scotland, and Wales). These three nations plus the northeastern part of the island of Ireland constitute the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is roughly the size of Oregon in the United States and about two-thirds the size of Japan. It has approximately 63 million residents, nearly twice the population of California and about half that of Japan. Its population is not equally distributed among England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Five of six Britons live in England. The United Kingdom can be considered a multiethnic state because it contains Scottish, Welsh, and English citizens, who have distinct cultures and languages Historical Development of the State As part of the United Kingdom’s political development, another important legacy was the emergence of common law, a system based on local customs and precedents rather than formal legal codes. That system forms the basis of the contemporary legal systems of the United Kingdom (with the exception of Scotland), the United States, and many former British colonies. The most important initial document is the Magna Carta, which British nobles obliged King John to sign in 1215. The Magna Carta became a royal promise to uphold feudal customs and the rights of England’s barons. Magna Carta sought to prevent the king from exploiting his power, and placed limits of royal authority by establishing law as a power in itself. Compared with its European neighbors, the United Kingdom had a more constrained monarchy. Three major developments in the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries decisively undermined the power of British sovereigns and are crucial for our understanding of why the United Kingdom was one of the first nations to develop democratic control.  The United Kingdom began its overseas expansion in the sixteenth century, and by the early nineteenth century, it had vanquished its main European rivals to become the world’s dominant military, commercial, and cultural power. Its navy helped open new overseas markets for its burgeoning domestic industry, and by the empire’s zenith in 1870, the United Kingdom controlled about a quarter of all world trade and probably had the globe’s wealthiest economy. The dimensions of the British Empire were truly exceptional. In the nineteenth century, it governed one-quarter of the world’s population directly ruled almost 50 countries and dominated many more with its commercial muscle. Today, the Commonwealth includes the United Kingdom and 54 of its former colonies and serves to maintain at least some of the economic and cultural ties established during its long imperial rule. Political Regime The political regime of the United Kingdom is notable among the world’s democracies because of its highly majoritarian features. Under the rules of British politics, the majority in Parliament has virtually unchecked power. Unlike political parties in other democracies, even parliamentary democracies, the majority party in the United Kingdom can enact policies with few checks from other branches of government. Also unlike other democracies, in the United Kingdom, there are no formal constitutional limits on the central government, few judicial restraints, and no constitutionally sanctioned local authorities to dilute the power of the government in London. Political Institutions THE CONSTITUTION The United Kingdom has no single document that defines the rules of politics, but the constitution is generally understood to include a number of written documents and unwritten rules that most British citizens view as inviolable. In 1215, the Magna Carta set a precedent for limits on monarchical power. Other documents include the 1689 Bill of Rights and the 1707 Act of Union, which united Scotland and England. What makes the United Kingdom’s constitution particularly unusual is that it also consists of various acts of Parliament, judicial decisions, customs, and traditions. Since Parliament is viewed as sovereign, the democratically elected lower house of the legislature can amend any aspect of the constitution by a simple majority vote This power extends to the very existence of the monarchy, the powers of regions or local governments, and the powers of the houses of Parliament. Therefore, unlike most other democratic regimes, the United Kingdom has no constitutional court, because any law passed by Parliament is by definition constitutional.  The basic characteristics of the British Political System Democray Poltical decsions are made by populary elected leaders. The monrach acts only on the base of their advice, he is politically nutral. Supremacy of the parliament Legally, parliament can do anthing it wants. Unitary government All powers are granted to the central authorities. Fusion of legislative and excutive power. The leaders of the majority party constitute the excutive.  Independence of the judiciary Judicial authority is free from interference Prtotection of civile rights  Party system In the United Kingdom’s majoritarian parliamentary system, political parties are extremely important. The majority party controls the government and can generally implement its policy goals, which are spelled out in the party manifesto. From the end of World War II to 1970, the United Kingdom had a two-party system. The Conservative Party and the Labour Party together garnered more than 90 percent of the popular vote. The two large parties were equally successful during that period— each won four elections. After 1974, a multiparty system emerged, which included the birth of a stronger centrist Liberal Democratic Party and a surge of support for nationalist parties in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom’s party system differs regionally, even for national elections. In England, the three major parties (Labour, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat) compete with one another. In Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, important regional parties compete with the three national political parties.  THE LABOUR PARTY the Labour Party, which was formed in 1900 as an outgrowth of the trade union movement, sought to give the British working class a voice in Parliament. Only after the mobilizing effect of World War I and the expansion of suffrage in 1918 was the Labour Party able to make significant progress at the polls. Labour’s turning point and its emergence as one of the United Kingdom’s two dominant parties came with its landslide victory in 1945, just after the end of World War II. the British Labour Party considered socialism its dominant ideological characteristic. British socialists, however, were influenced by Fabianism, a moderate ideology that advocated working within the parliamentary order to bring about social-democratic change. While Labour championed a strong welfare state and some state ownership of industry, the party’s moderate politics never threatened to replace capitalism.  For most of its history, the Labour Party depended heavily on working-class votes, winning the support of about two-thirds of the United Kingdom’s manual laborers. Starting in the 1970s, however, the composition of the class structure began to change as fewer Britons engaged in blue-collar jobs. At that point, the solid identification of workers with Labour began to erode, creating a serious challenge for the party. By the mid-1970s, the Labour Party was badly divided between radical socialists who wanted the party to move to the left to shore up its working- class credentials and moderates who wanted it to move toward the political center. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Labour Party began a process of ideological and organizational moderation. The party’s constitution was rewritten to weaken severely the ability of trade unions to control party policy. Labour also abandoned its commitment to socialism and advocated a cross-class appeal.  Labour’s victory in the 2005 elections marked the first time in history that the party had been elected to office three consecutive times. However, those elections reduced Labour’s majority by 47 seats. The second Lecture UNITED STATES of AMERICA  Why Study This Case? The United States is governed by the oldest written constitution still in effect, and it is the world’s greatest military and economic power. It is a large and wealthy nation with a relatively weak state. It has a highly legitimate political regime and enjoys widespread adherence to the rule of law. Its political system has long been dominated by two political parties. The United States is a secular democracy in which religion continues to play a comparatively large role in politics and society. The United States leads the world in medical technology but has more citizens without medical insurance than any other advanced democracy. The United States, blessed with peaceful borders and isolation from major world conflicts initially favored an isolationist foreign policy but has in recent decades intervened militarily in numerous global conflicts.  Major Geographic and Demographic Features By 2022, the population of the United States reached nearly 335 million, third in the world after China and India. The United States also ranks third in the world in land size; it is slightly larger than Brazil and China but about half the size of Russia and slightly smaller than Canada. The United States occupies the central portion of the North American continent, sandwiched between Canada and Mexico and ranging from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean. It comprises 48 contiguous states (and the District of Columbia), Alaska (at the extreme northwest of the continent), and the island state of Hawaii. The United States also possesses numerous overseas territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific. U.S. states are extremely diverse in area, population, geography, climate, and culture.  The United States is richly endowed with natural resources, including minerals, gas, and oil. its population is unusual in some ways. Continually replenished by immigration, the population has continued to grow more than that of other industrialized democracies, and the U.S. birth rate is currently higher than both China’s and Brazil’s. The U.S. population is also more geographically mobile than is common in most industrialized democracies. (Moving from cities to small towns)  Political Regime the United States established a democratic regime governed by the rule of law. This means that government can act and citizens can be punished only as authorized by legal statute, all citizens are equal before the law, and no one is above the law, not even political leaders. the American political regime is characterized by establishing a liberal democratic political system with institutions intentionally designed to weaken the power and authority of the state. Those institutions included federalism, the separation of powers with checks and balances, and the Bill of Rights. in 1789, the Constitution established a representative democratic regime governed by a presidential system. Political Institutions 1. THE CONSTITUTION The constitution divides governing authority between the national and state governments; the separation of powers, which prevents any one branch or office of government from dominating through a system of checks and balances; and the Bill of Rights, which protects the freedoms of individual citizens. The U.S. Constitution is considered the oldest written constitution still in force. this constitution has served as the model for constituting the regimes of many newly established countries, and its guiding principles of federalism and separation of powers have become standards for numerous democracies. Political Institutions 2. The Branches of Government the power of government is shared by three institutions: a president; a bicameral legislature (Congress); and a judiciary, led by the Supreme Court, that has the power to interpret the Constitution. the upper chamber of the legislature (the Senate) is given the authority to approve or disapprove executive appointments and to ratify or not ratify treaties. the House of Representatives (the House) can impeach, and the Senate can convict and remove from office, a president or a federal judge (for grievous offenses). Both the Senate and the House can refuse to pass legislation. Congress has the upper hand, which allows it to override a presidential veto of legislation (with a two-thirds majority) and to overturn a constitutional decision of the Supreme Court by amending the Constitution (statutory interpretations can be overturned by a simple majority).  The executive (the president) can veto legislation passed by the legislature and appoint judges to the judiciary. The judges, once appointed, have lifetime tenure and serve without political oversight Most significantly, they have the power of judicial review, meaning they can interpret the Constitution and void any act of the other two branches or any of the individual states that they deem unconstitutional if that act is brought before them in a court case. Unlike a parliamentary system, which fuses executive authority and legislative authority and makes only members of parliament directly accountable to voters, the U.S. system seats its president and members of the legislative chambers in separate elections.  The Preside ncy  The U.S. president is both the head of state and the head of government. As a result, the presidency is invested with a great deal of formal authority, and key presidents have expanded the power and influence of the office over time, particularly in the past century. The president serves a fixed four-year term and may be elected only twice. The current President Joe Biden is the 46th President of the United States. As the head of state and the only leader elected to represent the entire citizenry, the president has traditionally taken the lead role in U.S. foreign policy (although treaties are subject to the approval of the Senate). The president is also commander in chief of the military. As head of government, the president— similar to a prime minister— is also responsible for managing the day-to-day affairs of the government and makes senior appointments to the executive and judicial branches (again, with Senate approval).  the president can initiate proposals for legislative action and veto legislative bills. The president also manages an enormous bureaucracy, which has mushroomed over the years so that its civilian workforce now approaches 3 million employees. The U.S. bureaucracy is technically responsible to the executive branch and is further constrained by the legislature’s control of its many budgets.  THE LEGISLAT URE  Congress is the dominant branch of the U.S. government, despite the growing influence of the presidency and the substantial clout of the Supreme Court, this remains the case. The Constitution reserves the supreme power— the power to legislate — for Congress. It also gives Congress the power of the purse: sole authority to appropriate funds and thus control the way its laws are implemented the U.S. Congress never accepts the president’s annual budget without making its own significant adjustments. Another indication of the framers’ appreciation for congressional power was their decision to divide the legislature against itself by making it bicameral. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, who are elected to two-year terms in single-member plurality districts. The number of seats and districts allotted to each state is determined by and distributed according to each state’s population.  For example, following the 2010the national census, Texas saw an increase in its allotment of House seats from 34 to 38, and New York’s seat allotment dropped from 29 to 27 based on changes in population; Wyoming retained its single seat. The Senate is composed of 100 members, each serving staggered terms of six years; one- third of the body is elected every two years. Each state is allotted two seats regardless of its population, which in most cases gives each pair of senators a substantially larger constituency than their counterparts in the House of Representatives. The two chambers of Congress play different roles, The Senate is authorized to ratify treaties and approve presidential appointments, whereas the House is given exclusive power to originate tax and revenue bills. The Senate tends to be more deliberative, providing a forum for wide- ranging opinions and topics, The House, on the other hand, is more centralized, places strict limits on debate, and conducts business on the basis of majority rules.  Because senators serve a larger and more diverse constituency, they tend to be less specialized, less partisan, and more hesitant than representatives to take a position that might offend any major portion of their broad base of voters. House representatives, in contrast, stand for election every two years and are by necessity more attuned to the needs and interests of their more narrowly defined constituencies. The House is generally more politicized and partisan.  THE JUDICIA RY  The third branch of the U.S. government, the judiciary, was the least defined by the Constitution and initially quite weak. the U.S. judiciary has come to play a prominent role in the American political system, in the light of the trust and legitimacy vested in the Constitution and the rule of law. Over time, the federal court system devised new tools of judicial authority and significantly broadened the scope of its jurisdiction. In 1789, Congress created the federal court system authorized by the Constitution, endowing it with the power to resolve conflicts between state and federal laws and between citizens of different states. the Supreme Court has the authority to judge unconstitutional or invalid an act of the legislative or executive branch or of a state court or legislature. Although this power of judicial review can be exercised by federal and state courts, the Supreme Court is the court of last resort and has the final word on the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.  Federal judges are given lifetime appointments, which afford them substantial autonomy from both partisan politics and the executive and legislative branches of government. But the Court’s power is checked by its reliance on the presidential nomination and Senate approval of nominees to the federal bench, and by legislative or executive enforcement of its decisions. the federal courts have played an increasingly influential role, particularly since the second half of the twentieth century. They were involved in determining important policy outcomes in such areas as school desegregation and abortion, and even in determining the winner of the 2000 presidential election.  Fourth Lecture UNITED STATES of AMERICA  THE LEGISLAT URE  The third branch of the U.S. government, the judiciary, was the least defined by the Constitution and initially quite weak. the U.S. judiciary has come to play a prominent role in the American political system, in the light of the trust and legitimacy vested in the Constitution and the rule of law. Over time, the federal court system devised new tools of judicial authority and significantly broadened the scope of its jurisdiction. In 1789, Congress created the federal court system authorized by the Constitution, endowing it with the power to resolve conflicts between state and federal laws and between citizens of different states. the Supreme Court has the authority to judge unconstitutional or invalid an act of the legislative or executive branch or of a state court or legislature. Although this power of judicial review can be exercised by federal and state courts, the Supreme Court is the court of last resort and has the final word on the interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.  Federal judges are given lifetime appointments, which afford them substantial autonomy from both partisan politics and the executive and legislative branches of government. But the Court’s power is checked by its reliance on the presidential nomination and Senate approval of nominees to the federal bench, and by legislative or executive enforcement of its decisions. the federal courts have played an increasingly influential role, particularly since the second half of the twentieth century. They were involved in determining important policy outcomes in such areas as school desegregation and abortion, and even in determining the winner of the 2000 presidential election. The Electoral System Nearly all elections in the United States are conducted according to a single-member district plurality system. There is one representative per district and the seat is awarded to the candidate with the most votes (but not necessarily with a majority). This system has favored the emergence of two broadly defined parties and has effectively discouraged the survival of smaller and single- issue parties. States are required to adjust voting districts every 10 years to reflect changes in population, and the dominant party in the state legislature is often able to control the process. Although members of both chambers of Congress are elected directly by a popular vote, the president and the vice president are elected indirectly by the electoral college. In this system, voters technically do not vote for a presidential candidate; instead, each party from each state chooses or appoints a slate of electors. Local Government The United States has a federal political system dividing authority between self-governing states and the national government that unites the states (hence, the name United States of America). The Constitution authorizes the national, or federal, government to manage both national commerce and foreign policy. Although the granting of those federal powers marked a significant centralization compared with the earlier Articles of Confederation, the states have retained significant powers, including responsibility for many direct social services (such as health, education, and welfare) and authority over internal commerce. Over time, however, the national government has managed to increase its influence in many of the areas traditionally subject to state sovereignty The federal government can review the constitutionality of state legislation, impose federal mandates, and make federal grants to states for such services as education and transportation, contingent upon the states’ abiding by federal standards. The Party System American political parties today tend to be weaker and more fragmented than their counterparts in most other countries. The U.S. plurality system has fostered a two-party system in which the Democratic and Republican parties have won virtually all votes and political offices since their rivalry began over 150 years ago. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY The Democratic Party has its roots in the Democratic-Republican Party, which formed in the 1790s with southern agrarian interests as its base. As a coalition party, like its Republican rival, the contemporary Democratic Party is difficult to characterize fully in terms of a set of philosophical principles or even policy preferences. the party tends to embrace policies that support minorities, urban dwellers, organized labor, and working women.  Democrats in the United States generally perceive state intervention designed to temper the market and enhance equality as both legitimate and necessary. The party has also struggled at times with divisive social issues such as abortion and gay marriage, which are often opposed by working-class and immigrant communities that would otherwise be drawn to the Democratic Party. THE REPUBLICAN PARTY The Republican Party, nicknamed the Grand Old Party (GOP), is in fact not as old as its rival. It first contested elections in 1856 on an antislavery platform that also appealed to northern commercial interests. With Lincoln’s presidential victory in 1860, the party dominated national politics until the 1930s, when the Great Depression brought that era of its supremacy to an end. By the late 1960s the GOP had regained the presidency, and by the 1990s it regularly obtained congressional majorities as well. The Republican Party currently brings together a coalition that includes both economic and moral conservatives. It draws support disproportionately from rural dwellers, upper-income voters, evangelical Christians, and voters favoring individual freedom over collective equality, such as libertarians and owners of small businesses.  Although there are fewer registered Republican voters than Democratic voters, registered Republicans have tended to vote more regularly than their rivals. Republicans are often divided between those who favor greater liberalism in economic and moral issues and those whose cultural or religious preferences call for a greater state role in social issues. THIRD PARTIES ninth Lecture  Background Unlike the American political system and the British political system which essentially have existed in their current form for centuries, the current French political system is a much more recent construct dating from 1958 (the Fifth Republic), which was a response to the political weaknesses of the pre-Second World War Third Republic and post-war Fourth Republic. The Fifth Republic came about following a political crisis over France's colonial war in Algeria, when Charles de Gaulle took power under a new constitution which gave the President new executive powers compared to the FourthRepublic, making the post uniquely powerful in European politics. (The First Republic was established after the French Revolution of 1789, which overthrow the absolute monarchy and France declared itself a republic). France France shares its borders with eight countries. In the north, it shares with Belgium, while Monaco, Spain and Andorra border France in the south. Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland and Italy border France in the east.  A Mixed System (Semi-Presidential) The institutions of the French Fifth Republic borrowclassic elements both from parliamentary and presidential systems. This has led certain constitutional specialists to class the French Republic as a “semi-presidential” system.The parliamentary nature of the system is clearly displayed through the existence of a Government led by a Prime Minister who is accountable for his actions before the Chamber elected by direct universal suffrage. To counterbalance this accountability, the Prime Minister may call upon the President of the Republic to dissolve the National Assembly. On the other hand, the election of the President of the Republic by direct universal suffrage, his major role in foreign policy and his pre-eminence in the conduct of national policy, outside of periods of cohabitation, have no equivalent in such parliamentary systems as those of the United Kingdom or the Federal Republic of Germany where the role of the Head of State is in fact only a matter of protocol. These elements make the French system closer to the American model.  The Executive Branch 1. The President of the Republic keystone of the institutions The Constitution places the President of the Republic in the highest position and makes him the “keystone” of the system. Article 5 of the Constitution provides that “the President of the Republic shall see that the Constitution is observed,He shall assure, by bis arbitration, the proper functioning of the public authorities  Since the constitutional revision of 2000, the President of the Republic is elected by direct universal suff-rage for five years. Every French citizen having reached the age of twenty-three may be a candidate in the presidential election provided he has obtained the sponsorship of five hundred national or local elected officials. The election is held according to a two-round majority system. Only the first two candidates after the first round go forward to compete in the second round.This second round is held two weeks after the first.  Powers of the President The Presidency has the most powerful position in the French political system.Powers include; - He is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. He appoints the Prime Minister, and upon the proposal of the Prime Minister,he appoints the other members of the government  He negotiates treaties -He has the right to grant pardon to a convicted prisoner. -He may refer a law or a treaty to the Constitutional Council (equivalent to constitutional court) and appoints one third of its members. -He may, after consulting the Prime Minister and the Presidents of the two assemblies, deçlare the National Assembly (lower house of parliament) dissolved  He negotiates treaties -He has the right to grant pardon to a convicted prisoner. -He may refer a law or a treaty to the Constitutional Council (equivalent to constitutional court) and appoints one third of its members. -He may, after consulting the Prime Minister and the Presidents of the two assemblies, deçlare the National Assembly (lower house of parliament) dissolved  The president has become the real leader of a governing majority when the governing majority in the National Assembly (parliament) coincides with that which elected him, He thus has the final say when a decision must be taken jointly with the Prime Minister and he determines the main direction of the policies to be pursued by the Government  It is only, in fact, in the field of foreign policy, an area in which the Constitution expressly recognizes his personal powers, that the President of the Republic keeps most of his prerogatives, although he must exercise them in collaboration with the Prime Minister. Thus the two heads of the executive jointly attend certain international summit meetings at which only the Head of State would be present outside periods of cohabitation.  2- The Government Although the choice of Prime Minister is a prerogative of the President of the Republie alone, the appointment of ministers is carried out by the President of the Republic upon a proposal of the Prime Minister. The correct working of the institutions and democratic practice do oblige the President of the Republic to choose a Prime Minister from within the majority party/parties in Parliament  The powers of the government Article 20 of the Constitution provides the Government with the responsibility of determining and conducting the policy of the Nation. In practice, as the main decisions are taken in the Council of Ministers, this governmental power is,in fact, shared with the President of the Republic, when the Prime Minister belongs to the same political family. a↓ It is the responsibility of the Government to determine and to conduct the policy of the Nation. Thus the Government has a great variety of means available to direct, speed up or slow down the discussion of bills during the legislative procedure before the assemblies. The Prime Minister heads the state civil service and is responsible for national defence. He has the power to make regulations, i.e. to take either general measures outside matters for statute, or specific measures setting down the exact mechanisms for the application The Legislative Branch The institutions of the Republic set up a Parliament consisting of two Chambers,the National Assembly and the Senate.G The National Assembly is made up of 577 members, elected for five years (except in the case of dissolution) by direct universal suffrage within constituencies.  The Judicial Branch France uses a civil legal system; that is, law arises primarily from written statutes; judges are not to make law, but merely to interpret it. The basic principles of the rule of law were laid down in the Napoleonic Code. The power of jùdicial review is vested'in a Constitutional Council which is a unique creation of the Fifth Republic. The council consists of nine members: one appointment made by each of the President, the President of the Senate,and the President of the National Assembly every three years for a nine-year,non- renewable term. This contrasts with the US system where the President makes all appointments to the Supreme Court but then the appointments are for life. All former Presidents of the Republic are de jure members of the Constitutional