Types of Democracies: Direct, Representative, Parliamentary, Presidential

 

VOCABULARY
no confidence vote - a formal vote by which the members of a legislature (usually a parliament) to indicate that they no longer support a leader, government.
figurehead - a head or chief in name only.
Example sentence: The king is merely a figurehead; the government is really run by elected officials.
 
coalition government - coalition government, in a parliamentary government, body of advisors that is formed when different political parties choose to cooperate in the administration and regulation of a country or community. Coalition governments usually are a temporary alliance, being formed when no single political party gains a clear majority and competing parties instead negotiate to work together. Such a situation is likely to occur during a period of crisis, such as during a war, or in response to political breakdown. Members of all parties in a coalition government are appointed to a cabinet.
 
plenum - an assembly of all the members of a group or committee.
 
Federal Democracy vs. Unitary Democracy (Review)
A federal democracy is a system of government in which power is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces). Each enforces its own law directly on it citizens and neither the national government nor constituent political units can alter the arrangement without the consent of the other. A unitary democracy is a system of government in which constitutional authority lies in the hands of a single central government. Administrative divisions (subnational units) created by the central government are responsible for the everyday administration of government, but exercise only powers the central government chooses to delegate. Great Britain is an example of a country with a unitary system of government.
 
1) What is the other way government power can be distributed and how is it different from both a federal and unitary type?
 
Direct Democracy vs. Representative Democracy (Republic)
All modern democratic countries are representative democracies. In a representative democracy people vote for representatives to make their laws.  A representative democracy is also known as a republic.  In a direct democracy people vote directly for their laws.  There are no representatives to do this. Direct democracies do not exist although elements of direct democracies exist in the form of referendums, recall elections, and initiatives.
 
A referendum is an election where voters are asked to vote for or against a proposed law. Sometimes voters can vote on continuing or repealing a law that has already been passed.
 
A recall election (also called a recall referendum, recall petition or representative recall) is a procedure by which, in certain polities, voters can remove an elected official from office through a referendum before that official's term of office has ended.
 
An initiative is where citizens can propose laws or amendments (changes to a constitution) to be voted on.
 
Presidential Democracy vs. Parliamentary Democracy
A presidential democracy is a form of government in which the executive branch is elected separately from the legislative branch. The chief executive, the president, is elected for a fixed term and cannot be removed except by extraordinary measures. The powers vested in the president are usually balanced against those vested in the legislature. In the American presidential system, the legislature must debate and pass bills. The president has the power to veto a bill, preventing its adoption. However, the legislature may override the president's veto if it can muster enough votes.
 
A parliamentary democracy is a form of representative democracy in which the power to govern is in an elected legislature (lawmaking branch), but the executive and legislative branches are not separate. The elected legislature (which is a parliament) chooses an executive leader who is given the title “prime minister”. The legislature may remove the prime minister at any time by a vote of no confidence and often approves the prime minister's cabinet members (persons who carry out the national laws and policies).
 
In the United States, the Speaker of the House of Representatives is chosen the same way – they are chosen through the vote of all members of the House. As expected, the Speaker will always be a member of the majority party (the party with the most members in the House). However, the Speaker only has power over the House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House has no executive power because that is the role of the president. The Speaker fills four primary roles: 1) they are the most visible and authoritative spokesperson for the majority party in the House of Representatives. Speakers explains policy and bills in Congress to other Washington officials and the public. They manage the assignment of other Congressmen to positions that influence lawmaking; 2) the speaker manages actions on the floor of the House of Representatives (where debate on legislation takes place - and navigates legislative rules, controlling the debates in ways that help his or her party; 3) the speaker oversees everything from accounting to procurement for the House.4) the Speaker of the House is second in the line of presidential succession after the vice president.

Parliamentary systems have a clear distinction between the head of government and head of state. In this system, the head of government and parliament is the Prime Minister. Rather than participating in a general election, the members of Parliament elect the Prime Minister. Citizens elect the members of Parliament. Additionally, Parliament makes up the legislative branch of government.

 The Prime Minister typically has no limit to the time they can stay in office. However, this means that they are dependent on the satisfaction of Parliament, which has the power to remove the Prime Minister from power. This can be accomplished through a no-confidence vote.

 Meanwhile, within a parliamentary system, the head of state may be an elected president. In some cases, the head of state may be a hereditary monarch (a king, queen, emperor) and acts as a figurehead for the nation.

 In presidential systems, the legislative branch will write law for a president to ultimately approve or reject. Though the president may suggest laws, it is ultimately the legislative branch that will write them. In contrast, a Prime Minister will write laws along with the legislature and pass them.