Category: Political Systems

The term of the chief executive. Views of Hamilton and Story :- “The ingredients Which constitute energy in the executive, said Alexander Hamilton, are first, unity, secondly, duration, thirdly, an adequate provision  for its support, fourthly, competent powers.” while those which constitute safety in the republican sense are, first, a due dependence on the people,…

Methods Followed : Four different methods of choosing the chief executive have been followed in practice first, the hereditary principle, second, direct election by the people, third, in direct election by a body of intermediate electors, themselves either popularly elected or chosen by some branch of the government and, fourth, election by the legislature. In…

Principles of organization : What the Executive Organ Embraces. The second great organ, department, or branch of government the third, if we accept the view of some Writers that the electorate is also an organ is the executive. In a broad and collective sense the executive organ embraces the aggregate or totality of all the…

Nature of the legislative mandate – role of the representative : Classification of opinions : As to what is the proper function of a representative whom the people have chosen to act for them in matters of legislation, there is a wide difference of opinion. The Views which have been expressed by writers on the…

Professional or occupational representation : Criticism of proportional party representation. While the System of proportional representation described above is, according to its advocates distinctly superior to the system of majority representation, it is in the minds of many persons defective for the reason that it insures representation only to minorities which are organized as political…

Representation of minority parties Early Advocates. The question whether the constitution should not guarantee representation, proportional or otherwise, to the minor political parties in the state, especially the more important ones, has had supporters dating from the epoch when in practice the principle of minority representation was unknown. John Stuart Mill in his classic book…

General Principles. Concerning the constitution and mode of recruitment of the lower chambers there is now substantial unanimity of opinion and of practice that it should rest upon a popular basis, that its members should be elected by direct, equal, secret, and what is commonly described as universal suffrage, and that the tenure of their…

Constitution of Upper Chambers. It is not possible here to discuss in detail the constitution of upper chambers, even of the more important states. Upon examination it will be found that they may be grouped in the following classes : First: Those which are constituted wholly or predominantly upon the hereditary principle. They include the…

Constitution of the legislative organ. The Unicameral Principle. For a long time it was regarded almost as an axiom in political science that legislative bodies especially national legislatures should be constituted of two chambers, and in practice the great majority of them are so constituted today. This principle, said Bryce, is the quad semper, the…

Ancient Legislative Organs. Representative legislative assemblies as we know them today are of comparatively recent origin. Montesquieu observed that the ancients had no notion of a legislative assembly composed of representatives of the people. In the states of antiquity the legislative power was not delegated to small select bodies of representatives but was exercised by…