1. Chapter 10
Comparative Politics III
Governing Democracies:
Executives, Legislatures, and Judiciaries

2. Executives
• Presidents
• Elected
• Prime British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Spanish
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, U.S.
Ministers President George W. Bush, and Portugese
Prime Minister Jose Durao Barroso,
• Selected from
its own ranks

3. European Parliaments
• “Forming a
government” in
Britain
• Monarch invites the
leader of the largest
party in the House
of Commons to
become prime
minister and “form a
government”
Queen Elizabeth II

4. European
Parliaments
• “Constructive no
confidence” in Germany
• Chancellor of Germany
stronger than British prime
minister
• Head of largest party in the German Chancellor
lower house (Bundestag) Gerhard Schroder
– Ousted only if the Bundestag votes in a
replacement cabinet
– “Constructive no confidence” succeeded only
once in 1982

5. European
Parliaments
• “Cohabitation” in
France
• Semipresidential
system
• President elected for Premier Lionel Jospin and
7 years President Jacques Chirac
• Parliament elected
for 5 years
– President appoints premier from majority party
in parliament

6. The Clinton
Impeachment
• Snapshot of American
politics:
• Moralistic • Public
• Example of morality • Open to media
• Divided • Legalistic
• 2/3 pro Clinton • Legal details
• Partisan • Expensive
• Division on party lines • $40 million +
• Personality-driven • Institutionalized
• Normal (immature) • According to Constitution
• “Slick Willy” • Distasteful
• Partisn politics run amok

7. Roles of the
Executive
• Head of state
• Symbol of nation
• Chief of government
• Responsible for making • Chief diplomat
and carrying out policy • Grant diplomatic
decisions recognition
• Party chief • Negotiate trade deals
• Leaders of political party • Executive agreements
• Commander in chief • Dispenser of
• Commands military appointments
establishment • Patronage (3,000 jobs)
• Most dangerous power • Chief legislator
• Law-making powers

8. Executive
Leadership
• Hands-on
Causes chief
executives to scatter
and exhaust
President Carter
themselves
“Hands-On” Style of
leadership
• Hands-off
• Pay little attention to
crucial matters causing
serious problems
Ronald Reagan with his horse
• Rely on trusted
"Little Man" at Rancho Del Cielo. subordinates
February, 1977.

9. Executive
Leadership
• Middle Ground
• Appeared to be
hands-off
• Actually very active
• Preferred to let others
President Eisenhower
take credit (or blame)
– “Hidden-hand presidency”

10. Barber’s
Presidential
Character
• Based on how much
- presidents like political office
- energy they put into it

11. Types of
Presidential
Character
• Active-positive
• Enjoys being president and puts a lot of energy
into it.
• Roosevelt, Kennedy, Bush Sr.
• Active-negative
• Real “meanies” in office
• Lots of energy but don’t enjoy relaxed power
• Johnson, Nixon

12. Types of
Presidential
Character
• Passive-positive
• Like being president,
but little energy
• Prefer to delegate
matters to subordinates
• Taft, Harding, Reagan General Eisenhower
Passive-negative
– Politicians drafted for the job, don’t relish it
– Little energy
– Coolidge, Eisenhower

13. Disabled
Presidents
• Woodrow Wilson
• Strokes, poor health
• Treaty of Versailles
• Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Heart Failure, hypertension Ellen Axson Wilson
• John F. Kennedy
• Addison’s disease
• Ronald Reagan
• Assassination attempt

14. Psychology of Power
• Classic 1936 work of
Harold Lasswell
• Politicians start out mentally
unbalanced
• Have unusual need for power and dominance
• Normal people find politics uninteresting
Plato
– Even sane people who become too powerful in
high office go crazy.
• They have to because they can trust no one
Solution
– Limit power and have mechanisms to remove
officeholders who abuse it.

15. Cabinets
• Major executive
divisions called
department in U.S.,
ministry in most of the
rest of the world.
• Who serves in a U.S. Treasury Department
transfers its law
cabinet? enforcement units, including
• Parliamentary systems the Customs Service and
the Secret Service, to the
• Presidential systems Department of Homeland
Security and the Justice
• Rise of noncabinet Department.
advisers Secretary of Homeland Security Tom
Ridge, Treasury Secretary John Snow, and
• Chief of Staff Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson
• National Security Adviser

16. Expecting
Too Much?
• Presidents and Prime Ministers are expected
to
• Deliver economic growth with low unemployment
and low inflation
• Be responsible for anything that goes wrong
• Delegate to subordinates (“hands-off”)
• What matters is getting reelected
• Personality counts more than policy
• Symbols count more than performance

17. How Do We Safeguard
Democracy?
Electoral Punishment!

18. Legislatures

19. Executive Roles
• Head of state
• Top leader, but with only
symbolic duties
• Queen of England
• King of Sweden
Head of government
– The real working executive
• Prime minister, premier, or chancellor
– Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair
– Germany Chancellor Angela D. Merkel
– United States
– President is both head of state and head of
government.

20. Presidential
Democracy
• Separation of power
between executive
and legislative
branches
• President combines
head of state with
chief of government
roles
Executive not easily ousted by legislature
Less dependent on legislative majority

22. Parliamentary
System
• Fusion of power between
executive and legislative
branches
• Head of state distinct
from chief of government
• Chief political official
(usually prime minister)
easily ousted
• Cabinet members are
members of parliament

24. Separation and
Fusion of Power
• Government
• In Europe, a given cabinet
• U.S. “administration”
• Executive-legislative
deadlock
Vote of confidence
– Major vote in parliament on which government
stands or falls.
– Can oust cabinet on a no-confidence vote
Immobilism
– Inability of coalition governments to solve major
questions.

25. Coalition
• Multiparty alliance
to form a
government
When no one party has majority
of seats in parliament

26. Legislative
Chambers
• Bicameral
• Parliament having
two chambers, upper
and lower
• Unicameral
• Parliament with one
chamber

27. The Committee
System
• Real power of
modern legislatures
• Screen much
proposed legislation
Can make or break a proposal
Includes
- Standing (permanent) committees
- Special ad hoc committees
- Subcommittees

28. A Closer Look at
Legislatures
• Lawmaking
• Pass laws, few originate
laws
• Constituency work
Supervision and criticism of government
– Keeping a critical eye on the executive
Education
– Keep citizenry informed
Representation
– Chief function to represent the people

29. Decline of
Legislatures
• Structural disadvantages
• Legislators obey party whips
• U.S. lacks efficiency
• Lack of expertise
• Must rely on experts
• Psychological disadvantages
• A President can have charisma, but a legislature
cannot
• “President worship”

30. Decline of
Legislatures
• The absentee problem
• Lack of turnover
• Dilemma of parliaments
• To get things done, power must be
concentrated, as in the hands of a powerful
executive.
• To keep things democratic, power must be
dispersed, divided between an executive
and a legislature.

31. Judiciaries

32. Types of Law
• Positive law
• Written by humans and
accepted over time
Criminal law
– Regulates the conduct of individuals, defines
crimes, and provides punishment for violations
• Infractions
• Misdemeanors
• Felonies
• U.S. criminal law codified or statutory

33. Types of Law
• Civil law
• Private matters brought
to court by individuals,
not by governments
• Marriage and divorce,
inheritance
Constitutional law
– Grows out of a country’s basic documents
– U.S. Supreme Court interprets the Constitution
– Judicial review of legislation

34. Types of Law
• Administrative law
• Regulatory orders by
government agencies
International law
– Guides relations among nations
– Include treaties, authority, and customs
– Reciprocity and consistency
– No enforcement apparatus

35. Types of Law
• Common law
• “Judge-made law”; old
decisions built up over the
centuries
Code law
– Laws arranged in books, usually updated Roman
law
Canon law
– Laws of the Roman Catholic Church, based on
Roman law

36. The Roots of Law
• Higher law
• Attributed to God or the
Creator and thus higher than
laws made by humans John Locke
– People are “endowed by their Creator” with
the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness…-- rights that no just government
can take away.
Natural law
– That which comes from nature, understood by
reasoning.

37. U.S. Federal Court System
Diversity
Jurisdiction: U.S. Supreme Court
Litigants who
are citizens of
different
states Circuit Courts
District Courts

38. State Court System
Adversary
Process: CA Supreme Court
Two sides:
Plaintiff and
Defendant
Court of Appeals
Superior Courts

39. Judges
• Federal Judges
• Nominated by President and appointed
with the advice and consent of the Senate
• Position held during “good behavior”
• State Judges
• Either popularly elected or appointed
• Terms range up to 14 years

40. Comparing Courts
• British court system
• Common law traditions
• Divided into civil and criminal
branches
– Judges
• All judges appointed by the Monarch on advice of prime
minister
• Lifetime tenure
• Lack power of judicial review
– No written constitution
– Lawyers
• Barristers represent clients in court
• Solicitors handle all other legal matters

41. Comparing
Courts
• European court system
• Based on French system
• No separate civil/criminal divisions
• Accused bears burden of proving innocence
• Lawyers
• Court questions witnesses, not lawyers
• Lawyers try to sway jury and show factual mistakes
• Role not as vital as in U.S./British systems

42. Role of the Courts
• Judicial review
- Marbury v. Madison (1803)
• Supreme Court’s power to
review the constitutionality Chief Justice
of laws John Marshall
Political role
– Appointment of judges
– Impact on laws

43. Influences
on Judges
• Geography
• Outlook and background
• Occupational background
• Party affiliation
• Conception of judicial role
• Colleagues’ opinions
• Public opinion

44. Warren Court
• Civil rights
• Brown v. Bd. Of Ed of Topeka (1954)
• Reversed “separate but equal” doctrine
• Ordered desegregation of schools
• Lombard v. Louisiana (1963)
• Supported the sit-in

45. Warren Court
• Criminal justice
• Mapp v. Ohio (1961)
• Evidence seized without
warrant was inadmissible in
state court
– Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
• Indigent defendants must be provided counsel
– Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)
• Suspect could not be denied right to lawyer during
police questioning
– Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
• Once detained by police, suspect must be told rights

46. Warren Court
• Legislative
reapportionment
• Outlawed
“gerrymandering”
– Unequal representation denied citizens
their 14th Amendment rights
– States must apply the principle of “one
person, one vote” in redrawing electoral
lines

47. Post-Warren
Courts
• Burger Court (1969 –1986)
• 1978 Bakke Case
• Reverse discrimination
• 1984 added “good faith exception” to the
Mapp rule
• Rehnquist Court (1986-present)
• Burning of the American flag protected
form of free speech
• Our current Supreme Court

48. “Even when laws
have been
written down,
they ought not
always remain
unaltered.”
-- Aristotle