UNIT-4_-INSTITUTIONS-Into-political-science PDF

Introduction of Political Science by Rom, Outline how legislatures organize to et al. accomplish their work. Define different ways legislators represent UNIT 4 INSTITUTIONS...

Introduction of Political Science by Rom, Outline how legislatures organize to et al. accomplish their work. Define different ways legislators represent UNIT 4 INSTITUTIONS constituents. CHAPTER OUTLINE 9.1 What Do Legislatures Do? Setting aside the challenge of 9.2 What Is the Difference between running for reelection, there are many tasks Parliamentary and Presidential involved in a legislator’s job, including Systems? creating new laws to solve emerging policy 9.3 What Is the Difference between problems; evaluating existing arrangements Unicameral and Bicameral to make sure they still work; staying in touch Systems? with constituents, both to keep them up to 9.4 The Decline of Legislative date with legislative work and to find out Influence what they think about current issues; and Introduction: overseeing other parts of the government to A legislature is a deliberative body ensure that the will of the legislature is that is granted the authority to create laws being carried out. to govern a society. When the term This section will examine each part legislature comes up, people often think of of a legislator’s job in greater detail to better national legislatures, such as the US understand the roles that legislatures play in Congress or the National Congress of the political world. Not all legislatures Argentina. around the world have the same powers and functions. Some legislatures, However, city councils and state particularly in non-democracies, have legislatures also play a significant role in limited roles in governing but provide other governing our everyday lives, and important functions. In some systems, the supranational legislatures, such as the legislature can serve a more consultative European Parliament, can have a profound role, even if it doesn’t have final impact by setting policies on trade and decision-making power. Still other migration across many countries. Though legislatures are endowed with powers that legislatures are deliberative bodies make them coequal with the various generally focused on passing laws, their branches of government. role is much more complex. Finally, there are some legislatures that are the supreme decision makers when it 9.1 What Do Legislatures Do? comes to policy making. Recognizing that LEARNING OUTCOMES these differences exist is an important By the end of this section, you will be able component of understanding the roles to: legislatures play in society. Because Describe the different aspects of a legislatures play a particularly important role legislature’s work. in democratic systems, much of this chapter Discuss the general components of the focuses on those systems. legislative process. Critical Thinking and Legislative A president or prime minister, or Analysis another member of the executive branch, When people study legislatures, they routinely offers policy proposals to the often examine why members of a legislature legislature for their consideration. voted a certain way on a particular piece of legislation, why a certain member was Finally, ideas can come from the chosen to serve on a particular legislative legislators themselves. It is quite common committee, or even why some policy for a member of a legislature to develop a elements were or were not included within passion for and expertise in a particular the text of a proposed piece of legislation. policy area. Being able to answer and explain In order for a law to be created or the why requires one of the most important changed, a legislator or group of legislators skills that studying political science helps must be willing to work to solve the problem. you develop—critical thinking. When you Often, the person who introduces a piece of learn how to explain why someone voted legislation is known as its sponsor. The yes or no on a piece of legislation, you are sponsor—or, if a group of legislators really developing the ability to explain introduces legislation, the anything, in any field or specialization. cosponsors—argues on behalf of a piece of legislation in debate and meets with other Critical-thinking skills are among the legislators to try to get their support for the skills employers value most.1 The ability to bill. explain complex situations, to solve problems, and to make sense of situations Once legislators realize there is a that seemingly defy rational explanations problem they need to solve, they set out to provides the foundation on which you can learn more about the policy area. They can build many diverse career paths. do this a number of ways, including by reading research and reports. Often, they Passing Laws: Who Comes Up with hold hearings in which they consult policy Ideas? experts. Hearings can be useful for bringing One of the legislature’s main jobs is many different stakeholders and to pass laws in order to solve policy perspectives together in one place. problems. Ideas for these laws come from many places. How Are Ideas Debated? Following the information-gathering Constituents might go to members of process, legislators decide how to legislatures for help solving a problem in proceed to fix the problem. In most their community, such as a need for more cases, they decide that the best way to school funding. A newspaper might publish solve a problem is to pass a law. Laws an investigation that brings attention to an concerning the relationship between the important issue. Often, organizations that government and individuals that apply to all work on a particular issue reach out to people are called public laws. legislators.  The Patient Protection and However, in some instances, change cannot Affordable Care Act is a good example of a take place without a supermajority. public law, as it made changes to the health care system in the United States that Supermajority voting rules require affected US society as a whole. Public more than a majority to pass legislation. laws cover a huge range of topics, including These rules come into play most often the economy and government operation, for decisions that are considered health care and civil rights, defense and especially important or consequential. foreign policy, and everything in between. For example, countries that allow the legislature to amend the constitution usually The process of writing a law involves require supermajorities to pass such taking all the ideas proposed and all the amendments. Supermajority voting rules for information gathered constitutional amendments can require and turning them into a formal text to anywhere from three-fifths to three-quarters circulate and debate. of the chamber’s membership to agree to the proposed measure. The exact process of debate differs For example, changes to the across legislatures, but most require a Japanese constitution require the support of public debate—that is, a debate that is open two-thirds of each chamber in the Diet (the to all members—before the legislature votes Japanese national legislature) and a on the proposed piece of legislation. Most majority in a public systems have a set of parliamentary referendum. procedures, or rules that govern the structure of debate. In countries where parliament can call early elections, a supermajority is Common procedural components required to agree to these elections. In the include the right of the minority to speak in a United Kingdom, parliamentary elections debate, every member having the right to a must occur every five years, but if two-thirds vote, and only one piece of business being of Parliament agree, the legislature can be addressed at a time. dissolved and early elections can be held. A supermajority may also be required to How Do Laws Get Passed? remove individuals from office, as in the Following the conclusion of debate, United States, the process of impeachment legislation is put to a vote to determine requires a majority vote in the House of whether it will become law. For the passage Representatives to move forward to trial in of ordinary laws, most countries require a the Senate. Once the trial takes place, bill to gain the votes of a majority of two-thirds of the Senate must vote in favor legislators. One of the basic principles of of conviction for the individual to be democratic societies is majority rule, or the removed. idea that the decision of the majority—50 In some cases, legislatures percent of the chamber’s membership plus implement rules that create one member—determines the decision of supermajority requirements for ordinary the chamber on most items of business. legislation. In the United States Senate, there is a tradition of unlimited debate on legislation, known as filibustering, which can A minority party is any political delay or prevent a vote on a piece of party that does not have more than 50 legislation. Legislatives in democratic percent of seats in the chamber. In regimes play a significant role in their democracies, minority parties can play an political systems, making their important legislative role, as they provide governments more stable than those official expression of political and policy without legislatures. ideas that differ from those of the majority. They present their ideas in debate and vote Organizing the Legislature’s Work against legislation they disapprove of, even The work of legislatures requires a when that legislation is likely to pass and large number of people to collaborate. become law. Every legislator has their own goals, things they want to take credit for, and blame they The exact nature of the relationship are trying to avoid—and everyone thinks between the majority and the minority they are right. Even when individuals agree depends on the number of parties in the that a particular policy is worth working on, legislature, and that number depends on they may disagree on the exact solution. what electoral system is in place. Some Legislatures must create structures to keep systems result in the dominance of two their members moving productively in main political parties. In the US government, roughly the same direction. for example the Democratic and Republican Parties have primary control. Other systems Political Parties make it easier for many parties to end up Political parties are groups of with seats in the legislature. In legislatures people who typically have similar ideas where many political parties hold seats, on policy that they use to help parties often need to join together in candidates run for election and govern. coalitions to create a majority in the One of the ways political parties help chamber. govern is in determining decision-making For example, in the 2020 Irish authority. Because most votes require a elections, no single party gained a majority. majority to pass, many political systems The party that gained the most votes, give additional decision-making and Fianna Fáil, joined with two supporting leadership authority to the political party that parties, Fine Gael and the Green Party, to holds a majority of seats. form a majority coalition. The majority party, or the political Coalition governments can be more fragile party that holds more than 50 percent of than outright majority governments because seats in the chamber, is often granted the if the relationship between the parties in the ability to set the schedule for what bills get agreement breaks down, a party might debated. They also typically control more withdraw its support from the coalition, seats on legislative committees, and throwing the balance of power in the because of these powers, they are typically legislature back into question. more likely to get their preferred policies enacted into law.  on the opinion of members of their political party who are on the relevant policy committee. If those members support the legislation, it can help the legislator decide whether they should support the legislation, too. The party delegates responsibility for learning about that issue to party members who sit on the relevant committee. Often, when people think of legislators, they think of people for whom writing laws and doing the work of government is a full-time job. While that Committees may be true in many situations, not every Another way legislatures organize is legislature is a professional legislature. through legislative committees, groups of Professional legislatures meet lawmakers who work together on the same year-round. The work of the legislature is policy area. Legislatures try to have enough the legislators’ only or primary job, they committees to cover all major policy areas, have paid professional staff, and they earn and while the number of members on each a salary that reflects the status of the office committee varies, most systems require that and the effort it requires. For example, the all parties be allowed space on a California State Assembly, the lower committee. chamber of the California State Legislature, That means individual members of is in session from January to September small parties typically serve on more every year; during the September to committees than members of bigger parties, December period, members are often in which can afford to spread their members their home districts, continuing to do work around. and preparing for the next legislative session. Members earn a salary of Organizing legislative work through approximately $115,000 per year plus per committees facilitates specialization and diem. legislative delegation. When individual legislators specialize, they delve more In contrast, non professional deeply into one or two policy areas and legislatures, sometimes also called citizen develop expertise on those issues. This legislatures, are part-time legislatures where expertise helps them better understand the members meet for a set period of time and nature of the problem and analyze different then, once the legislative session ends, go solutions. home to their districts to the job they held prior to the session or to other work. Legislative delegation goes hand in hand with specialization: when a legislator is The Texas Legislature is an tasked with voting on an issue outside their example of a nonprofessional legislature: areas of expertise, rather than having to do members meet starting on the second extensive research, that legislator can rely Tuesday in January for 140 days in odd-numbered years and make $7,200 per Commons represents 338 ridings. The year plus a per diem when in Austin, the member of Parliament elected from Halifax, state capital. The governor, who has the Nova Scotia, is only responsible for power to recall the legislature to special representing the constituents in Halifax, and sessions for 30 days at a time, generally only the voters in that district can vote in the handles any decisions that need to be made election to select the representative for that in between sessions. This tends to make district. This type of system can allow a governors in states with nonprofessional legislator to become familiar with the legislatures very powerful. particular issues that affect their district and to potentially be more responsive to their Legislative professionalism can constituents; however, it can also heighten have a substantial impact on a legislature’s geographic differences and potential capacity to do its work. Short legislative tensions between regions. sessions limit the amount that legislatures can accomplish in a given session, requiring clear prioritization and swift leadership. Proponents of nonprofessional legislatures argue that shorter sessions help constrain the cost of legislators’ salaries and the size of their staffs and that they prevent the expansion of government. While each government must decide for itself whether a professional or a nonprofessional legislature is the correct fit, it is certainly true that the capacity of nonprofessional legislatures is limited. Representation of Constituents Every member of a legislature has constituents, the people they are elected to represent. The connection between This contrasts with countries such as legislator and constituent can take many Mozambique or Israel, where the legislature forms, and the particular form can have a represents the country as a substantive impact on the relationship. whole, without any geographic divisions. For example, in Israel, voters indicate their Single-Member Districts versus preferred party, and regardless of whether Multimember Districts they are voting in Eilat in the south or Haifa The way in which legislators are in the north, they are voting for and will be assigned to their districts affects the represented by the same politicians. legislator-constituent relationship. In some In these systems of national systems, each legislator is elected to legislatures, members are less likely to have represent a specific geographic district. For particular regional loyalties that could affect example, in Canada, the House of policy making; however, political parties often play a larger role, so whether specific Denmark’s Liberal Party, and geographic or national legislative districts Socialdemokratiet, or the Social Democrats. produce better representation is debatable. Compare this with the largest Whether or not members of the constituency in the country, Sjællands, legislature are elected from specific which had 628,910 voters and divided 20 geographic districts, there is considerable seats across eight different political parties variation in the number of legislators who based on the percentage of the vote that can represent a single district. National-level each of those parties received in the districts such as Mozambique, where every constituency. member of the legislature could potentially be elected by every voter, are the extreme, By contrast, some electoral systems but many systems have multimember use single-member districts. In these districts, where multiple legislators systems, the legislature is made up of many represent a single geographic district. geographic districts, with only one legislator Depending on the rules of the system, these representing each district. The US House of members may be elected at the same time Representatives uses a or at different times, and they may be from single-member district system in which the the same party or different parties. For total number of seats in the chamber is example, in the United States Senate, each distributed across the states based on state is its own electoral district with two population, with more populous states members, each of whom is elected on receiving many more seats. Each state can separate six-year cycles. These two decide how it wants to draw its individual members may or may not be of the same districts. political party. After the 2020 electoral cycle, Jon Tester, a Democrat who will be up for The relationship between the reelection in 2024, and Steve Daines, a legislator and the constituent, which varies Republican who will be up for reelection in depending on whether a political system 2026, both represented Montana. uses single-member or multi member districts, has been the subject of The number of seats allotted per considerable research. Some scholars district can vary considerably in argue that geographically based multimember districts. In the Folketing, or single-member districts can better represent Danish Parliament, there are constituencies. racial and ethnic minorities because The smallest constituencies have members of a community who are clustered two seats in Parliament, and the largest together can elect a representative from that district has 20 seats. The division of seats Community, but scholars have also found across constituencies is often done to that multimember districts can better ensure recognize differences in population density. that women are elected to public office One of those smaller constituencies is because each community can select more Bornholm, which had 31,214 voters in 2019 than one representative. and elected two members to Parliament, one each from the two largest parties in the Some scholars contend that legislature: Venstre, also known as multimember districts can result in poorer representation of constituents overall, as the preferences via legislative action. The greater the number of seats in a district, the delegate model rests on the idea that harder it is for constituents to monitor people understand politics and policy well legislator behavior—and the greater the enough to form thoughtful opinions and likelihood that legislators will make convey them to their representatives, while decisions that are not in line with the the legislator's personal preferences should majority of constituents’ preferences. be set aside. The Changing Face of Legislatures In the trustee model, the legislator must use their own judgment and knowledge of policy to decide what is in constituents' best interests, even if it is contrary to their views. This model is based on the idea that the average voter is either not sufficiently informed about politics and policy or has not had enough time to develop that knowledge. In practice, most legislators fall somewhere in between the two extremes, seeking a balance between delegate and Descriptive representation suggests trustee approaches, sometimes called the that underrepresented minorities receive politico model of representation. In this better representation from individuals with model, a legislator relies heavily on the similar demographic characteristics, while delegate approach, weighing the opinion of substantive representation involves their constituents in decision-making, legislators representing constituents with particularly when their constituents feel the same ideological or policy beliefs, strongly about an issue. However, in reality, regardless of demographic characteristics. foreign aid accounts for only about 1% of While a legislator's ethnicity or gender may the federal budget and has broad support help them represent their constituents, it is from both Democrats and Republicans in not a guarantee that they will effectively Congress. represent their constituents' interests. Descriptive representation has been found to improve the probability of a demographic group's interests being represented. Edmund Burke, a political philosopher, proposed two primary ways legislators can represent their constituents. In one view, the legislator is a delegate of the people who elected them, learning the people's policy preferences and views about different issues and directly conveying those A fourth type of representation, partisan The Legislature’s Oversight Role representation, differs from the other The process of regularly monitoring three. In delegate, trustee, and politico and reviewing the actions of agencies or representation, the primary relationship other political actors, oversight, is is between the elected official and the important in democracies where a system of constituent. checks and balances between the different In partisan representation, the branches of government is designed to primary relationship is between the ensure that power is shared across the legislator and the political party. Partisan system. In these democracies, legislative representation relies on the idea that oversight of the bureaucracy provides an legislators must always vote with their important check on the power of the political party. Depending on the wishes of executive branch. the constituents, partisan representation can appear very similar to delegate or Hearings trustee representation, but it is motivated Just as committees hold hearings to not directly by the desires of the learn more about policy areas, they can also constituents about a particular policy area hold hearings to conduct legislative but instead by a legislator’s belief that their oversight. In these hearings, committees constituents want them to be a loyal party can gather information to ensure that an member across all issues. agency’s actions are in line with that The prevalence of partisan agency’s assigned mission. representation varies across countries, as in some political systems, the baseline Committees and agencies are often expectation is that legislators will vote with paired up based on relevant policy their parties the vast majority of the time, jurisdiction. For example, in the UK while in other political systems, members Parliament, the Health and Social Care are allowed more freedom from their Select Committee has jurisdiction over the political parties. Department of Health and Social Care and its 29 agencies and public bodies, which Contact Your Representative include the National Health Service (NHS). The legislature cares about the The committee regularly holds inquiries into opinions of its constituents, ensuring they issues in its domain, which in 2020 included support their decisions. To achieve this, the delivery of core NHS services during the constituents should reach out to their COVID-19 pandemic and the safety of representatives, who can be reached maternity services in England, among through various channels such as letters, others. emails, or phone calls. This approach helps gauge the importance of their concerns and Parliamentary Questions ensures their support and approval of their Hearings are not the only way representatives. legislatures get information. In many systems, particularly parliamentary systems, a formal process allows legislators to ask questions of the bureaucracy that the bureaucracy is then required to answer. This process can take many forms. In some Articulate the differences in countries, there is a designated time during member selection in different types the week when legislators can question of systems. ministers, including the prime minister, in Describe how the relationship person. In other countries, legislators between the legislature and the must submit questions in writing, but executive changes depending on the they can do so at any time, and the type of governing system. bureaucracy must respond in writing by The legislative and presidential a specific deadline. Sometimes systems are two distinct types of governmental systems have a government systems in most mechanism for both in- person and democracies. The legislative branch, which written questions. For example, in the creates laws, is closely related to the German Bundestag, after every weekly executive branch, which oversees their cabinet meeting, ministers are available to implementation and enforcement. The answer questions about current policy for 35 judicial branch, on the other hand, minutes. This is followed by a two-hour determines if actions align with the laws and question-and-answer session relating to if they conflict with the constitution. questions submitted in advance. The differences between these systems Budgets are primarily based on the relationship In democratic systems, the between the legislative and executive legislative branch is responsible for the branches. In a parliamentary system, the appropriations process, which involves head of the executive, often called the prime allocating government funds to agencies minister, is also a leader in the legislative responsible for policy implementation. This branch. In contrast, in a presidential system, power of the purse allows legislatures to the head of the executive, often called the gain compliance with policy-making president, has a more significant separation priorities. They allocate more money to of powers. agencies that follow the legislature's direction and prioritize important work, Semi-presidential systems, which have while cutting budgets for those that do both a president and a prime minister, share not or consider unimportant work. This some features of both parliamentary and budgetary authority is crucial for agencies, presidential systems. However, the as nothing gets done without money. differences between these systems are profound and require further discussion. 9.2 What Is the Difference between Parliamentary and Presidential Systems? LEARNING OUTCOMES How Members Get Selected By the end of this section, you will be able Who has the power to pick the people who to: make the laws? Does the public elect the Define parliamentary and members of the legislature, or do other presidential systems and give directly elected legislators appoint them? examples of each. Are legislators selected via executive appointment? The answers to these questions matter because just those with majority support. Variations the method of selection can indicate whose of proportional representation often require interests a legislator will represent, as the multimember districts to distribute seats person or people who put someone in among winners. In Brazil's National power can have a decided impact on whose Congress, the 26 federal states and the values and preferences shape law. federal district are allotted between 8 and 70 seats based on population. The electoral result in each district determines the number of seats a party will receive in the legislature, combining proportional representation by party and proportional representation by population. Most systems have a minimum threshold of votes needed to gain seats, ranging from 3 to 5 percent of the electorate in most countries. In plurality or first-past-the-post electoral systems, voters cast a vote directly for the candidate of their choice, and the candidate with the most votes wins the election, regardless of the percentage of the vote share they secure. Because there is a direct relationship between votes cast and election outcomes in these systems, they are generally considered more straightforward than proportional representation systems. However, in these Legislative Elections systems, it is extremely difficult for small Public elections are the primary parties to gain political power. Additionally, method for selecting members in legislators can take office in these systems legislatures worldwide, where citizens vote even if the majority of their constituents for a candidate or political party. There are voted for someone else. For example, in the three main types of direct legislative election 2020 United States Senate race in systems: proportional representation Minnesota, Democratic candidate Tina systems, plurality or "first past the post" Smith won reelection with 48.74 percent of systems, and mixed systems. In the vote. However, because Republican proportional representation systems, the Jason Lewis got 43.5 percent, Kevin relative level of support for political parties O’Connor of the Legal Marijuana Now Party in the population is reflected in the got 5.91 percent, and Oliver Steinberg of legislature. If 10% of the public supports a the Grassroots Legalize Cannabis Party got political party and votes for them, that party 1.78 percent, a larger total percentage of can expect to hold roughly 10% of the seats voters selected someone other than Tina in the legislature. This system aims to Smith, the winner of the race. reflect all preferences in government, not  While plurality voting is most vacant seat for the remainder of the term. commonly used in single-member districts, The appointed senator must then go up for it can also be used in multimember districts. reelection, increasing the likelihood that the In those systems, voters are allowed to pick appointee will be responsive to their as many candidates as there are seats up constituents. for election, and the candidates with the most votes win. For example, in a race with Legislative–Executive Branch Relations three open seats, voters may pick three While the power of a legislature is candidates, and the three candidates with greatly shaped by the method used to select the highest vote totals win the election. its members, that power is also strongly influenced by the relationship between the Appointment selection is a crucial aspect executive and legislative branches. of legislative chambers in various systems, Remember, most systems have including those with absolute monarchies or some sort of legislative, executive, and supreme leaders. In these systems, the judicial branch structure, but the appointed members may have the power to relationships among the branches and the propose and pass legislation that originates powers they have can vary widely. Perhaps in the chamber or approve or reject the most important of these relationships is legislation created by others. In Bahrain's that between the legislative and the National Assembly, the lower chamber, the executive. In democratic systems, the key Majlis al-Nuwab or Council of differences between presidential and Representatives, is elected by the people, parliamentary systems relate to the degree while the Consultative Council, also known of independence of the legislative and as the Majlis al-Shura, is made up of 40 executive branches and how much power seats directly appointed by the king. each has to oversee the actions of the other. In Brunei, the legislative council is appointed by the sultan, who creates all 9.3 What Is the Difference between laws and serves as a venue for discussing Unicameral and Bicameral Systems? policy ideas. In other systems, legislators LEARNING OUTCOMES are appointed by a chief executive, such as By the end of this section, you will be able a president or a prime minister, who is to: directly accountable to the people. In the Define unicameral and bicameral Bahamas, the governor-general, in legislature. consultation with the prime minister and Outline which types of legislative opposition leader, appoints members to the systems exist in different parts of the Senate. The prime minister selects nine world. members, while the opposition leader Analyze the relative advantages selects four members. and disadvantages of each type of legislative system. Executive appointments can also be used to fill vacancies between elections, as seen in One key structural component of the United States Senate where a state legislatures is the number of chambers that governor can appoint an individual to fill a they have. The two most common options for chamber structure are unicameral and against a piece of legislation. This system of bicameral. A unicameral legislature has checks and balances within the legislative only one chamber, or body, that makes branch ensures that legislation that can decisions. A bicameral legislature has two survive the legislative branch process is chambers, often with different procedures more likely to succeed. The Bundesrat and powers, that ultimately must work represents the interests of the states, not together to make policy and exercise other the interests of individual representatives. legislative powers and responsibilities. Frequency of Unicameral and Bicameral Strengths and Weaknesses of a Legislatures around the World Unicameral Legislature A bicameral legislature is a more efficient legislative process than a unicameral legislature, as both chambers must debate and approve bills for them to become laws. This efficiency is particularly valuable in homogenous societies where diverse perspectives are not important. However, unicameral systems lack oversight and checks on the power of the legislature, as the need to pass legislation through another chamber is a natural "veto point." This allows the public's preferences to be better served when both chambers weigh in and consider a piece of legislation. In contrast, unicameral parliamentary 9.4 The Decline of Legislative Influence systems have a lack of a natural "veto LEARNING OUTCOMES point," where a prime minister with a strong By the end of this section, you will be able governing majority faces almost no to: constraints from either a separate chamber Identify the different challenges or an effective minority opposition. legislatures face. Articulate the reasons why different Strengths and Weaknesses of a types of legislatures may face Bicameral Legislature different challenges. Bicameral systems, which comprise Define party polarization. half of global legislatures, allow political systems to reflect diverse perspectives The political world is in constant flux, and priorities. In bicameral systems, a with institutions constantly evolving to meet lower chamber, the Bundestag, is directly the moment. In many places around the elected by the public, while the upper world, despite all the powers that chamber, the Bundesrat, represents the 16 legislatures have and the vital role they play Länder or states. Each state has between in our political structures, legislatures face three and six votes on legislation, but all significant challenges to their ability to play votes must be cast as a bloc, either for or their prescribed role. Some of these challenges are internal, some are the result judiciary and reduced the power of the of external forces, and some are broader Federal Assembly. challenges that affect the larger political system. Let’s consider three major The legislature's power in a political challenges legislatures face in the 21st system is often diminished by executive century: executive dominance, legislative dominance, which often stems from the deference, and polarization. absence of legislation in a policy area. This dominance can make it difficult for Growth in Executive Dominance legislatures to regain control and Executive dominance is a accumulate over time, shifting the balance phenomenon where leaders, particularly in of power away from the legislature in a systems with an executive separate from democratic country. the legislature, expand their powers and justify them as legitimate and acceptable. Growth in Legislative Deference This can occur incrementally, with actions Legislative deference is a form of resulting in small expansions of power but power that grants power to another branch ultimately resulting in large changes. In of government, either by refusing to take times of crisis, executives may radically action or by approving any proposal put expand their authority, with support from the forward by the executive. This can be due to government, media, or public to prevent the executive's desire to handle an issue reprisals. Regardless of the method, themselves or fear of being blamed for an executive dominance is gradually unpopular policy. Legislative approval, normalized, forming a new basis for which comes when the legislature has no understanding the executive's powers. option but to approve the measure, reflects the weakness of the legislature and poses a In the United States, recent threat to legislative independence. presidents have used executive action, such Executive dominance and legislative as executive orders, memoranda, and deference are distinct but often proclamations, to achieve their policy goals connected, as it is difficult for an executive when Congress has not been able to to expand their powers without legislative accomplish desired changes. For example, deference. However, the presence of one Presidents Obama and Trump used threat does not guarantee the presence of executive action to shape immigration and the other, as legislative deference and border policy, creating the Deferred Action executive dominance are more about for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and patterns of behavior over time than any securing funding for a border wall between single decision. the United States and Mexico. Growth in Polarization Executive dominance also occurs The rise in polarization, a systemic outside the United States, as seen in the threat, poses a significant challenge to legislative proposals of Russian President legislatures, particularly the European Vladimir Putin, which increased the Parliament. Polarization occurs when president's power over the legislature and people or groups are divided between two extremes on an issue or position, often starting with political actors taking more difference between the two types of partisan and ideological positions. Over systems relates to the relationship between time, voters tend to become more polarized, the legislative and executive branches of identifying more strongly with a political government. In a parliamentary system, the party or ideology. executive power, or the power to see that This polarization can threaten the the laws are followed, is vested in a prime effectiveness of a legislature, as seen in the minister, who is also the head of the rise in seats held by far-right and far-left legislative branch. parties worldwide. In legislatures with slim This means that power flows from majorityities or coalition governments, the people to the legislature and then from polarization can lead to gridlock, as support the legislature to the executive. In a will only come from co-partisans. In the presidential system, the executive, usually United States, bipartisan cooperation in the form of a president, is completely between the Democratic and Republican separate from the legislature. The people Parties has become less common since the separately elect the legislature and the early 1980s, with members increasingly executive, so the power flows from the supporting legislation if it comes from their people to the legislature and from the own party. people to the executive. As a result, parties have had to rely 9.3 What Is the Difference between more heavily on parliamentary maneuvers Unicameral and Bicameral Systems? to pass significant legislation, as bipartisan There are also two primary types of cooperation is difficult to secure. organizing systems in legislatures. First, there are legislatures with only one Summary chamber, which are called unicameral. 9.1 What Do Legislatures Do? Second, there are legislatures with two Legislatures do a lot of different chambers, called bicameral legislatures. things, but their primary jobs are to make Unicameral legislatures are thought to be laws, represent constituents, and oversee more efficient than bicameral legislatures, other parts of government. These jobs but bicameral legislatures are designed to exemplify the fundamental reasons a take into account a variety of different political system needs a legislature. When viewpoints. the people empower a branch of the political 9.4 The Decline of Legislative Influence system to make the rules governing their Legislatures relationship with their government, the face a number of challenges to their power political system is equipped to resist the and independence. Some of those ways that power can corrupt. Legislative challenges are external, such as executive institutions must require cooperation and dominance, in which the growing power of consensus to ensure the health of the presidents and prime ministers threatens to political system. overtake the power of the legislature. Other 9.2 What Is the Difference between threats are internal, particularly legislative Parliamentary and Presidential Systems? deference, in which because of either an At the national level, there are two inability to come together and act or a primary types of governing systems, desire to avoid difficult issues, the parliamentary and presidential. The largest legislature gives up power to other branches. Finally, some threats are are seen by many as legitimate and systemic, such as increasing polarization, acceptable filibuster a set of which has shown up both in the public and parliamentary rules designed to in legislatures. Without considering the extend debate to delay or stop threats to the legislature, it is impossible to legislation from receiving a vote understand the full scope of its work and its place in the political system. hearings sessions in which members of a legislature talk to and Key Terms question a panel of people, likely appropriations process the process made up of experts and bureaucrats, by which governments decide how about a particular issue or piece of they will spend money legislation bicameral describes a legislature legislative committees groups of with two chambers, usually an upper lawmakers who work together on a chamber and a lower chamber particular policy area cloture motion a vote to end a legislative deference a filibuster and force a vote; typically phenomenon in which legislatures requires a supermajority to enact cede power to another branch of coalition two or more different government, either by refusing to parties that decide to cooperate in take action or by approving anything order to form a majority in a the other branch wants legislative chamber legislative delegation a system of constituents the people whom a cooperation between members of legislator represents the same political party for when a delegate a model of representation legislator must vote on an issue in which a legislator acts based on outside their areas of expertise; the preferences of their constituents rather than doing additional descriptive representation a type of research, the legislator can rely on representation in which the the opinions of members on the representative shares demographic relevant policy committee characteristics with the people they legislature a deliberative body that represent is granted the authority to create laws that govern a society majority Duverger’s law a principle that party the party that holds more than states that electoral systems with 50 percent of seats in a chamber plurality systems of voting and majority rule the idea that the single- member districts will have support of more than 50 percent of a two main political parties voting body is required to come to any decision executive dominance a minority party any party that does phenomenon in which leaders not hold more than 50 percent of expand their powers beyond their seats in a chamber prior limits and are able to justify mixed systems electoral systems those expanded powers so that they that combine features of proportional  representation and plurality election professional wage so that systems legislating is their primary job multimember districts legislative proportional representation an districts that are represented by electoral system in which the relative multiple legislators support that political parties receive nonprofessional legislatures from the population is reflected in legislatures that meet for limited the makeup of the legislature periods of time and provide public laws laws governing the members only limited pay, reflecting relationship between a government the part-time nature of the job and individuals that apply to all oversight the process of regularly people semi-presidential systems monitoring and reviewing the actions political systems that have some of agencies or other political actors characteristics of presidential parliamentary procedures the systems and some characteristics of rules that are followed in a political parliamentary systems system to structure and guide single-member district a legislative debate district that is represented by only parliamentary system a political one legislator system in which the executive, often specialization the idea that a prime minister, is also a part of the individual legislators will focus on legislature one or two policy areas to develop partisan representation a model of expertise on those issues, rather representation in which legislators than learning about all issues are expected to vote with their sponsor a legislator who introduces political party a piece of legislation and who is plurality an electoral system in often instrumental in its passage which the candidate who receives substantive representation a type the most votes wins the election of representation in which a polarization the division of people representative shares policy and or groups between two extremes on ideological beliefs with the people an issue or position they represent politico a model of representation in supermajority a given proportion of which a legislator seeks a balance a voting body greater than 50 between delegate and trustee percent that is required to agree in approaches order to come to a decision; typically presidential system a political reserved for especially important or system in which the executive, often consequential decisions a president, is separate from the trustee a model of representation in legislature which a legislator relies on their own professional legislatures judgment when it differs from that of legislatures that meet year-round, their constituents have professional staff, and pay unicameral describes a legislature legislators a with a single chamber