POSC 1000(056) Introduction to Politics

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POSC 1000(056) Introduction to Politics

• Presidential Systems
• Russell Alan Williams

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Unit Eleven Presidential Systems

• Required Reading
• Mintz, Chapter 16, pp. 373-393.
• Outline
• Introduction
• Presidential Systems
• Legislative Institutions
• Executive Institutions
• Hybrid Systems - France
• Conclusions

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1) Introduction Presidential Systems

• First developed in U.S.
• Context Response to royal authority
• Need to limit the power of any branch of
  government
• Separation of Powers Executive, legislative
  and judicial branches of government are separate
  from each other each has different personnel
  and own source of authority each is elected
• Checks and Balances Each of three branches of
  government is able to check the actions of others
• No individual should become too powerful
• No executive dominance

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• However . . . . Also a need for state strong
  enough to fight of British etc.
• Need for clear leader
• Framers of constitution thought about
• a constitutional monarchy, but . . -gt
• Opted for a President to head
• executive and armed forces
• Implication Negotiation and compromise needed to
  get things done
• Modern complaints about gridlock

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2) Presidential Systems

• A) Legislative Institutions
• Congress Legislative branch of American
  government
• Same as Parliament
• Bicameral upper and lower houses
• i) House of Representatives Lower house
• Congressmen elected for two year terms from a
  local congressional district
• Electoral districts each have over ½ million
  voters
• Allocated based on population
• E.g. -gt California 53 congressmen
• -gt Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota,
  South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming
• 1 congressman

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• Senate Upper house
• Senators elected to six year terms
• Two for each state (!)
• Only 1/3 of senators face election in each 2 year
  election cycle better deal than congressmen(!)
• 2008 election
• Must be over 30 years of age

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• Organization of Congress
• Both houses have own officers
• House of Representatives Speaker of the House
  (majority party leader)
• Senate Vice President
• President Pro tempore
• Committee Chairs (from majority party)
• E.g. Senator Joe Lieberman and the Committee for
  Homeland Security
• Floor leaders
• Majority leader
• Minority leader

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• Functions of Congress
• A) Responsible for passing all legislation and
  budgets
• Can initiate own legislation
• Either house, requires coordination
• Can also support or defeat presidential proposals
  
• E.g. the budget, or declaration of war etc.
• High level of independence
• President cannot call an election if bills are
  being defeated
• Congress cannot defeat the Presidents cabinet
• Result Most activity requires
• compromise or gridlock sets in . . . .
• E.g. Budgets and log rolling

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• Functions of Congress
• B) Oversight power
• Can conduct investigations into executive
  activities -gtE.g. conduct of war in Iraq
• Hold hearings
• Ratify presidential appointees -gt Supreme Court
  Justices, Ambassadors, etc.
• Not a formality! E.g. George Bush Sr. . . .
• Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill
• Impeachment President and other executive
  officials can be removed from office for illegal
  activities
• Ultimately requires support of 2/3 of Senators
• E.g. Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky

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• Behavior of Congress
• Independence Congress pursues policy
  irrespective of who is president
• Weak party discipline
• Committee chairs often very independent
• Members vote their own conscience
• Problems
• Influence of money on individual members
• E.g. . . . .

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Table 3. Top 25 dual contributors of soft money (), 2000 election cycle
Contributor Democratic Republican Total
Service Employees Intl Union (SEIU) 5,090,696 30,000 5,120,696
ATT 1,457,469 2,302,451 3,759,920
AOL Time Warner 1,425,637 1,139,861 2,565,498
Freddie Mac 1,025,000 1,383,250 2,408,250
Philip Morris Cos Inc 296,663 2,098,922 2,395,585
Enron Corp 607,565 1,433,850 2,041,415
Thompson Medical Co Inc 1,882,000 20,000 1,902,000
Citigroup Inc 641,204 758,616 1,399,820
American Financial Group 622,000 685,000 1,307,000
MBNA Corp 200,000 1,035,905 1,235,905
BP Amoco 295,376 920,900 1,216,276
Source Common Cause (2001) Cited as FEC
statistics.
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• Behavior of Congress
• Other Problems
• Accountability of parties
• What does the party label mean?
• President cannot always rely on his own party
• E.g. Obama and democratic congressional congress

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• Presidential Systems Cont.
• B) Executive Institutions
• Presidency
• Head of State
• Head of Government
• Presidents cabinet manages the executive branch
  of government
• Budgets and administration
• A.K.A. the decider

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• Presidential power
• Commander and Chief of military forces
• Appoints Supreme Court judges, Ambassadors and
  cabinet ministers
• Subject to congressional oversight . . . .
• Can effectively decide to go to war or not . . .
  .
• E.g. Gulf of Tonkin Incidents (1964)
• Vietnam War

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• Presidential power cont. . . . .
• Veto Presidential power to prevent enactment
  of legislation
• Congressional bills can blocked if president does
  not like them
• E.g. Stem Cell Research Bush Vetoed 2X(!)
• However
• Veto can be overridden by 2/3 votes in congress
• Congress can retaliate by not passing budget or
  putting riders in presidential legislation

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3) Hybrid Systems

• Semi-Presidential Systems A system in which an
  elected President shares power with an elected
  Prime Minster and Cabinet
• Prime minister and cabinet elected from
  legislature
• Borrows best of both systems
• In practice can result in very different dynamics
  . . . .
• Example France

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• Legislative institutions
• Parliament - Bicameral
• Makes legislation and passes budget
• National Assembly House of Commons
• 577 Deputies elected in majoritarian system
• Runoff ballot of leading candidates
• Has often failed to produce parliamentary
  majorities
• Senate Indirectly elected (powers are limited)
• Chosen by local governments

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• Executive Institutions
• President elected (through a majoritarian
  runoff electoral system)
• President has always received at least 50 of
  votes
• Gets five year term and can run again and again .
  . . .
• President selects Prime Minster from National
  Assembly
• Prime Minster selects cabinet Government
• Should be leader of most popular party
• PMs cabinet must enjoy the support of the
  legislature
• Cabinet can be defeated
• -Result President must select a new PM

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• Implications in practice
• France has
• Elected head of state
• Some separation of powers
• Parliamentary government
• Neither President or Prime Minister has power of
  Canadian PM . . . .

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• Implications in practice
• France has
• Elected head of state
• Some separation of powers
• Parliamentary government
• Neither President or Prime Minister has power of
  Canadian PM . . . .
• Governing may require American-style negotiation
• Depends on the Party System!

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• When Presidents party controls legislature, the
  president has considerable power
• E.g. Prime Minster effectively works for the
  president

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• When Presidents party does not control the
  National Assembly . . . things more complicated
• If Presidents party does not have majority
• negotiation and compromise with other parties
• If another party has majority
• Cohabitation Sharing of power between French
  President and Prime Ministers of different
  parties
• E.g. Francois Mitterrand and
• his conservative Prime
• Ministers . . . .

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4) Conclusions on Presidential Systems

• Pure presidential systems relatively common and
  seem to be successful
• Fewer demands for major institutional change in
  presidential systems than in parliamentary
  systems
• Hybrid systems that incorporate parliamentary
  government have encountered difficulty
• Often presidents end up abusing powers to
  overcome gridlock
• E.g. Russia Vladimir Putin

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For next time

• Unit Thirteen Politics and Governance the
  Global Level/Conclusions and Exam Advice
  (December 2)
• Required Reading Mintz, Chapter 20, pp. 474-499.