A Mixture of Presidential and Prime Ministerial System
DIVISION OF COMMERCE
ASSOCIATE DEGREE IN ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL STUDIES
SEMESTER ONE: AUG – DEC 2012
Question: ‘When examining Guyana, Cuba and Venezuela what are the features that make the mixture of the Presidential and Prime Ministerial system so attractive to so many democracies?’
“A prime ministerial government system is a system in which executive power is concentrated in the prime minister’s hands through the suppression of collective cabinet government” (Heywood: Pg 429: 2002). A Prime ministerial government has two key features. First the office of prime minister is the central unit between the legislative and the executive branches of government, its holder being drawn from and accountable to the assembly and also serving as chief executive subordination of both the cabinet and departmental ministers. In this, it parallels presidentialism. Prime ministerial government has been criticized for the following reasons: * It strengthens centralization by weakening the constraints formerly exerted by the cabinet and government departments. * It narrows policy debate and weakens scrutiny by excluding criticisms and alternative viewpoints.
However, it can be defended on the following grounds: * It reflects the personal mandate that prime ministers acquire in general elections. * It gives government policy clearer direction by checking the centrifugal pressures, embodied in departmentalism and the ‘nudge and fudge’ of collective decision making (Heywood: Pg 344: 2002).
The cabinet is the senior executive organ and policy making responsibility is shared within it, the prime minister being ‘first’ in name only. The system is usually underpinned by collective responsibility all the cabinet ministers are required to ‘sing the same song’ and support official government policy. The virtues of cabinet government are: * It encourages full and frank policy debate within the democracy of cabinet meetings,
ASSOCIATE DEGREE IN ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL STUDIES
SEMESTER ONE: AUG – DEC 2012
Question: ‘When examining Guyana, Cuba and Venezuela what are the features that make the mixture of the Presidential and Prime Ministerial system so attractive to so many democracies?’
“A prime ministerial government system is a system in which executive power is concentrated in the prime minister’s hands through the suppression of collective cabinet government” (Heywood: Pg 429: 2002). A Prime ministerial government has two key features. First the office of prime minister is the central unit between the legislative and the executive branches of government, its holder being drawn from and accountable to the assembly and also serving as chief executive subordination of both the cabinet and departmental ministers. In this, it parallels presidentialism. Prime ministerial government has been criticized for the following reasons: * It strengthens centralization by weakening the constraints formerly exerted by the cabinet and government departments. * It narrows policy debate and weakens scrutiny by excluding criticisms and alternative viewpoints.
However, it can be defended on the following grounds: * It reflects the personal mandate that prime ministers acquire in general elections. * It gives government policy clearer direction by checking the centrifugal pressures, embodied in departmentalism and the ‘nudge and fudge’ of collective decision making (Heywood: Pg 344: 2002).
The cabinet is the senior executive organ and policy making responsibility is shared within it, the prime minister being ‘first’ in name only. The system is usually underpinned by collective responsibility all the cabinet ministers are required to ‘sing the same song’ and support official government policy. The virtues of cabinet government are: * It encourages full and frank policy debate within the democracy of cabinet meetings,
References: * The British Constitution ; J. Harvey , L.Bather ; Fourth Edition * Developments in British Politics 2 ; Henry Drucker ; Patrick Dunleavy ; Andrew Gamble ; Gillian Poole Revised Edition * American Government and Politics Today; S.W Schmidt; M.C. Shelley; B.A.Bardes. Brief edition * Politics ; A. Heywood (1997) * Politics ; A. Heywood , Second Edition,(2002) , Palgrave Foundations * Oxford Dictionary of Politics; L. Mclean ; A.Mcmillian (1996) Oxford University Press * Introduction to Caribbean Politics ; C. Barrow-Giles ; Ian Randle Publishers (2002) * Sociology Themes and Perspectives ; Haralambos and Holbourn (Fifth Edition)