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Presidential system strength and weakness
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Chapter 14
The President of the United States is a special office with elements of great strength and also great weakness defined in the constitution. A president is chosen by the people whereas a prime minister is chosen by legislature.
One of the reasons presidents are less powerful than prime ministers is because no sitting member of congress can hold office in an executive branch, where as a person chosen by a prime minister to be in the cabinet are always members of parliament. That is a huge difference because the prime ministers pick all of their cabinet ministers from among parliament. This is a great way to exercise control over the government because if you have people from congress in your cabinet, you will be able to influence more people in the government. Picture it like an outsider trying to fit in to a new club or sport. You have to prove your way in and earn respect of your peers. That is sort of like the President and their cabinet. Sure, some of the people in the president’s cabinet are close friends, campaign aides, representatives and experts on various policy issues but if you already have someone on the inside like how Great Britain does, it makes the job a whole lot easier. And maybe the people of the government are in fact really welcoming and thankful that an outsider is coming in, but when it comes down to policy issues and the insiders do not agree with the president, they will turn on you.
Another huge weakness of the president is that a president’s party often does not have a congressional majority. A prime minister’s party always has a majority in parliament. Does this really mean anything? Yes it does, it creates a divided government that creates huge conflict and disagreement. Aga...
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...roblems, they enable problems. If more bureaucracies were held accountable, it would filter out the bureaucracies that are useless and meaningless.
To whom the bureaucracies are held accountable to remains a question to me. The bureaucracy is just too big and cannot be sustained but they do need to be held accountable for their actions, no doubt about that. Sadly, the bureaucracy is too big for anyone or anything, and it is too big for our own good. I guess there are always going to be downfalls to bureaucracy. According to text, “if a bureaucracy has one master, it often ends up having none”. Instead of one person controlling it, it controls the person. And with a divided bureaucracy like the US, we are seemed as inefficient. We are damned if we do, and damned if we don’t. Same thing with bureaucracy, they are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
The President of the United States is instrumental in the running of the country. He serves as the chief executive, chief diplomat, commander in chief, chief legislator, chief of state, judicial powers, and head of party. Article II of the Constitution states that the President is responsible for the execution and enforcement of the laws created by Congress. He also is tasked with the authority to appoint fifteen leaders of the executive departments which will be a part of the President’s cabinet. He or she is also responsible for speaking with the leaders the CIA and other agencies that are not part of his cabinet because these agencies play a key role in the protection of the US. The President also appoints the heads of more than 50 independent
A unified executive branch is the best-suit for promoting liability in government because it’s easier to blame one person than to differentiate fault among other members of a group
In Mellon’s article, several aspects are mentioned supporting the belief that the prime minister is too powerful. One significant tool the prime minister possesses is “… the power to make a multitude of senior governmental and public service appointments both at home and abroad,” (Mellon 164). Mellon goes on to state the significance the prime minister has when allowed to appoint the government’s key member...
In the field of Public Administration there is a highly-defined structure of constitutional, legal, and procedural requirements that are in place to keep those in power in check. That being said, no matter how stringent the oversight, or how well-meaning the intentions of those who serve, Public Service is a complicated field with many landmines to navigate. As the Iran-Contra Affair illustrates, duties, orders, and responsibilities and can easily conflict with each other because there are so many areas of
Modern Bureaucracy in the United States serves to administer, gather information, conduct investigations, regulate, and license. Once set up, a bureaucracy is inherently conservative. The reason the bureaucracy was initiated may not continue to exist as a need in the future. The need or reason may change with a change in the times and the culture needs. A bureaucracy tends to make decisions that protect it and further it’s own existence, possibly apart from the wishes of the populace. It may not consistently reflect what might be optimal in terms of the needs and wants of the people. Local governments employ most of the United States civil servants. The 14 cabinet departments in the U.S. are run day-to-day by career civil servants, which have a great deal of discretionary authority.
Contrary to popular belief, a minority government does not necessarily hinder a governing party. When practiced correctly, a minority government can be an improvement on single-party majority. Instead of one party controlling government, minority governments allow for multi-party governance, which promotes compromise between political parties. On the whole, minority government decreases stability and requires continuous cooperation with opposition parties. Although faced with many challenges, there are several beneficial aspects to a minority government. This paper will argue that a minority government does not hinder a governing party, and in fact can be beneficial in numerous ways. Most importantly a minority government allows the Prime Minister to maintain a range of important resources which allow for an effective government, minority governments deliver a more open and inclusive decision making process, and a minority government guarantees the confidence of the House for a certain amount of time.
Linz writes that “Presidentialism is ineluctably problematic because it operates according to the rule of "winner-take-all-arrangement” that tends to make democratic politics a zero-sum game” This causes some people to feel disenfranchised and that the President is not “their President” if the winner is not who they cast their vote for. Linz adds that parliamentary elections are more prone to give representations to a number of parties. Presidential election process leaves little room for consensus building and coalition
The Prime Minister is the Head of Government in Canada. Almost always, the Prime Minister is also the leader in the House of Commons, the assembly of ‘common’ people elected by the population to run government. Multiple steps are required to select a Prime Minister. First, there must be a vote of party members at a national convention that decide who will be their leader. If their party is already in power, or holds the majority of seats within Parliament, the chosen leader will assume the role of Prime Minister immediately. If not, the leader must lead the party through a successful election process to become Prime Minister. The Prime Minister is not elected directly by the entire population through the election. He or she is elected in an indirect manner when his or her party wins an election with the most seats in the House of Commons. The Prime Minister can lead the country for a maximum of five years before another election. However, historically and by tradition, most will call an election within four years depending on their perceived standing among the voters. If after four years, they feel that they are still held in high regard by the general public, and it is probable that they will maintain or enhance their power in government, the likelihood of calling...
Some big positions of the government that have high roles to do are the Speaker of the House, the Senate President Pro Templore, majority and minority leaders, and party whips. In main positions of government, the ones elected have some very significant roles. Important roles for the Speaker of the House are to watch over the daily sessions of the Senate, preserve order in the chamber, state parliamentary motions, and rule on parliamentary questions, appoint committee chairs and members, refer bills to committee, to sign legislation, and act as the official person that speaks for the House or Assembly. The President Pro Tem of the Senate doesn 't have as many roles as the Speaker of the House, but its roles are just as important. The main roles chosen to the president pro tem include: control over the Senate
The President also has many implied powers. Implied powers are not stated in the Constitution but have been possessed throughout history. They are mainly meant for him or her to have the ability to respond to immediate crisis situations (Dautrich and Yalof 189). When a crisis or natural disasters happen, the people of the United States look to the President to come forward with an action plan to try to remedy the disaster. During Pearl Harbor President Roosevelt responded by joining World War II. When Hurricane Katrina hit President Bush supported the states by providing aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Taking actions such as these can make a President popular. Becoming popular can help them with “campaign’s for the party’s congressional candidates…[so they can] have leverage…from those members of Congress for [their] own legislative programs”(Dautrich and Yalof 190). Another one of the President’s important roles is being chief legislator. He becomes leader of his party needing a large amount of support to get the party’s goals to happen. The President also has many global roles being the leader of the United States. For example, as the head of state the President is the living symbol of our nation. Another role the President has is chief diplomat, They become “the main face and voice of American foreign policy,
While relationship between the legislative, executive and judiciary largely remained the same, the public perception of President’s place in system has changed (Jeffrey Tulis, 1990). In the twentieth century, a strong executive emerged and was institutionalized in American national politics. Even though the framers anticipated that Congress would be the predominant branch of government, contemporary presidents wield formidable formal and informal resources of governance. As a result, the public expectations of presidents have grown and created a gap between expectations and formal powers. In an attempt to explain presidential power and its limits, four major often conflicting theories of presidential power has emerged in the last four decades.
...ese without the advising of Congress and other government officials. The vote of the people of the country is also crucial and determines how long the president can keep his job. His inability to make decisions solely from his own opinions and actions show why the limitations of the president’s power outweighed his empowerment.
Presidents of the United States of America have been around since the country became it’s own. Each president is given certain responsibilities and rights. Presidential power is listed in the Constitution but since then, there’s been room for more responsibilities to come into play. The powers exercised in the modern world surpass those included in the Constitution. Today, the president has a number of offices and departments serving under him. These institutions help keep the government together and everything running smoothly. The presidents rely on a number of other things. Some include elections, political parties, interest groups, the media, and public opinion. There are different kinds of powers granted to the president. While some are expressed powers and can be found written in the Constitution, others are delegated powers are given by the Congress to the president, and inherent powers, which are powers claimed by the President but aren’t found in the Constitution.
Bureaucrats should administer the public's will according to the modern administrative state through “good policy analysis and planning, appropriately developed management systems, and the new professional-technical expertise of the art, science, and practice of public administration” (Shafritz and Hyde 2012, Part III). To minimize waste and attribute to the highest degree of public accountability within public administration. The overlap of duties and authorities create the red tape so well known as bureaucracy no one wants to deal with are the result of the separation of powers built into the federalist concept of our government. With the marble cake approach there is an attempt to muddy the waters so the lines are not as easily distinguishable as a way for different bureaucrats to achieve their own personal interests. The Separation of Powers in the U.S. government are necessary to maintain the checks and balances within the
According to Sapru R.K. (2008) p370-371 the traditional ideal of public administration which inclined to be firm and bureaucratic was based on processes instead of outcomes and on setting procedures to follow instead of focusing on results. This paradigm can be regarded as an administration under formal control of the political control, constructed on a firmly ranked model of bureaucracy, run by permanent and neutral public servants, driven only by public concern. In emerging nations the administration was true bureaucracy meaning government by officers. In this perspective Smith (1996) p235-6 perceived that“the bureaucracy controls and manages the means of production through the government. It increases chances for bureaucratic careers by the creation of public figures,demanding public managers, marketing boards.