The Westminster system is a democratic Democracy is a political form of government where governing power is derived from the people, either by direct referendum or by means of elected representatives of the people (representative democracy). The term comes from the Greek: δημοκρατία – (dēmokratía) "rule of the people", which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) & parliamentary system A parliamentary system is a system of government in which the ministers of the executive branch are drawn from the legislature and are accountable to that body, such that the executive and legislative branches are intertwined. In such a system, the head of government is both de facto chief executive and chief legislator of government A government is the organization, or agency through which a political unit exercises its authority, controls and administers public policy, and directs and controls the actions of its members or subjects modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom The politics of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland takes place in the framework of a constitutional monarchy, in which the Monarch is head of state and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government. Executive power is exercised by the UK government, the devolved governments of Scotland and Wales, and the. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames[note 1] in the heart of the London borough of the City of Westminster, close to the, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. At its head is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth.
The system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature A legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise taxes and adopt the budget and other money bills. Legislatures are known by many names, the. It is used, or was once used, in the national legislatures and subnational Administrative divisions are divisions of a political division. In other words, they are designated portions of a country. They are also called subnational entities. They are each granted a certain degree of autonomy, and are required to manage themselves through their own local governments. Countries are divided up into these smaller units to legislatures of most Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states. All but two of these countries were formerly part of the British Empire and ex-Commonwealth nations upon being granted responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability which is the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments in Westminster democracies are responsible to parliament (and if bicameral, primarily to the lower house, which is more numerous,, beginning with the first of the Canadian provinces Canada was under British Empire control from 1764 to 1867. Several major events took place during this time, including the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Rebellions of 1837 in 1848 and the six Australian colonies While there was a long established European tradition of a Great South Land, the written history of Australia began in 1606, when during a voyage of discovery from Bantam, Willem Janszoon, commanding the Duyfken encountered the Australian mainland between 1855 and 1890.
There are other parliamentary systems whose procedures differ considerably from the Westminster system.
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Key characteristics
Important features of the Westminster system include the following, although not all of the following aspects have been preserved in every Westminster-derived system:[citation needed]
- a sovereign Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided. The concept has been discussed, debated and questioned throughout history, from the time of the Romans through to the present day, or head of state Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes personifying the continuity and legitimacy of the state and exercising the political powers, functions and duties who is the nominal or theoretical holder of executive power, and holds numerous reserve powers In a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government, a reserve power is a power that may be exercised by the head of state without the approval of another branch of the government. Unlike a presidential system of government, the head of state is generally constrained by the cabinet or the legislature, and most reserve powers are usable, but whose daily duties mainly consist of performing the role of a ceremonial figurehead In politics, a figurehead, is a person who holds an important title or office yet executes little actual power, most commonly limited by convention rather than law. The metaphor derives from the carved figurehead at the prow of a sailing ship. Common figureheads include constitutional monarchs, such as: Queen Elizabeth II , the Emperor of Japan,. Examples include the British monarch The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties. As a constitutional monarch, the Queen is limited to non-, the presidents of many countries and state/provincial A federated state, commonly simply referred to as a state, is a territorial and constitutional community forming part of a federal union. Such states differ from sovereign states, in that they have transferred a portion of their sovereign powers to a federal government. A federated state holds administrative jurisdiction over a defined geographic governors A governor is a governing official, usually the executive (at least nominally, to different degrees also politically and administratively) of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state. In federations, a governor may be the title of each appointed or elected politician who governs a constituent state in federal systems Federalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term federalism is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and constituent political units (like states or provinces).
- a head of government Head of government is the chief officer of the executive branch of a government, often presiding over a cabinet. In a parliamentary system, the head of government is often styled Prime Minister, President of the Government, Premier, etc. In presidential republics or absolute monarchies, the head of government may be the same person as the head of (or head of the executive), known as the prime minister A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the Government. In most systems, the prime minister is the presiding member and chairman of the (PM), premier In many nations, the title "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister". In the People's Republic of China, "premier" is more common, but "prime minister" is still used or first minister In Canada, "First Ministers" is a collective term that refers to all Canadian first ministers of the Crown, otherwise known as heads of government, including the Prime Minister of Canada and the provincial and territorial premiers. It is used in such formulae as "first ministers' meetings.", who is officially appointed by the head of state. In practice, the head of government is almost always the leader of the largest elected party in parliament.
- a de facto De facto is a Latin expression that means "by [the] fact". In law, it is meant to mean "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but without being officially established". It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or technique (such executive branch On the study of political science the executive branch of government has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the republican idea of the separation of powers usually made up of members of the legislature with the senior members of the executive in a cabinet A Cabinet is a body of high-ranking members of the government, typically representing the executive branch. It can also sometimes be referred to as the Council of Ministers, an Executive Council, or Executive Committee led by the head of government; such members execute executive authority on behalf of the nominal or theoretical executive authority.
- parliamentary opposition Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state (a multi-party system Unlike a single-party system , it encourages the general constituency to form multiple distinct, officially recognized groups, generally called political parties. Each party competes for votes from the enfranchised constituents (those allowed to vote). A multi-party system is essential for representative democracies, because it prevents the);
- an elected legislature, often bicameral In government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed government. Bicameral legislatures tend to require a, in which at least one house is elected, although unicameral Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multicameralism. Many multicameral legislatures were created to give separate voices to different sectors of society. Multiple chambers allowed for guaranteed representation of different social classes , ethnic or regional interests, or subunits of a federation. Where these systems also exist; legislative members are usually elected by district in first-past-the-post First past the post voting is a generic term referring to an election determined by the highest polling candidate. First-past-the-post voting method although similar in design does not relate solely to Plurality voting.[clarification needed] elections (as opposed to country-wide proportional representation Proportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a class of voting system aimed at securing a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections, and the percentage of seats they receive (e.g., in legislative assemblies)). Exception to this are New Zealand which changed to partly use proportional representation - but is still partly first-past-the-post, Israel Israel , officially the State of Israel (Hebrew: מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל (help·info), Medīnat Yisrā'el; Arabic: دَوْلَةُ إِسْرَائِيلَ, Dawlat Isrā'īl), is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East located on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. It borders Lebanon in the north, Syria in the which always used country wide proportional representation and Australia which uses Preferential voting Preferential voting is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank a list or group of candidates in order of preference. For example, the voter may write a '1' beside their first choice, a '2' beside their second preference, and so on. This contrasts with ballots used by methods which do not allow more than.
- a lower house A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house of parliament with an ability to dismiss a government by "withholding (or blocking) Supply" (rejecting a budget), passing a motion of no confidence A motion of non-confidence is a parliamentary motion traditionally put before a parliament by the opposition in the hope of defeating or weakening a government, or, rarely by an erstwhile supporter who has lost confidence in the government. The motion is passed or rejected by means of a new parliamentary vote (a vote of non-confidence), or defeating a confidence motion A motion of non-confidence is a parliamentary motion traditionally put before a parliament by the opposition in the hope of defeating or weakening a government, or, rarely by an erstwhile supporter who has lost confidence in the government. The motion is passed or rejected by means of a new parliamentary vote (a vote of non-confidence). The Westminster system enables a government to be defeated, or forced into a general election In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are up for election. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections, independently of a new government being chosen.
- a parliament which can be dissolved In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election and elections called at any time.
- parliamentary privilege Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made related to one's duties as a legislature. It is common in countries whose constitutions are based on the Westminster system. A similar mechanism, which allows the Legislature to discuss any issue deemed by itself to be relevant, without fear of consequences stemming from defamatory statements or records thereof.
- minutes of meetings Hansard is the traditional name for the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. In addition to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the UK's devolved institutions, a Hansard is maintained for the Parliament of Canada and the Canadian provincial legislatures, the Parliament of Australia and the, often known as Hansard Hansard is the traditional name for the printed transcripts of parliamentary debates in the Westminster system of government. In addition to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and the UK's devolved institutions, a Hansard is maintained for the Parliament of Canada and the Canadian provincial legislatures, the Parliament of Australia and the, including an ability for the legislature to strike discussion from these minutes.
Most of the procedures of the Westminster system have originated with the conventions A convention is a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted standards, norms, social norms or criteria, often taking the form of a custom, practices and precedents In common law legal systems, a precedent or authority is a legal case establishing a principle or rule that a court or other judicial body may utilize when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. Parliament alone possesses legislative supremacy and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. At its head is the Sovereign, Queen Elizabeth, which are a part of what is known as the Constitution of the United Kingdom The UK has no single constitutional document comparable to those of most other nations. It is therefore often said that the country has an "unwritten", uncodified, or de facto constitution. However, the word "unwritten" is something of a misnomer as the majority of the British constitution does exist in the written form of. Unlike the unwritten An uncodified or unwritten constitution is a constitution in which no single, formal document delineates the powers of a government, and the limits thereof. Instead, an unwritten constitution comprises the body of a country's laws, enacted over time, coupled with an emphasis on political precedent and enshrined parliamentary procedure, to create a British constitution, most countries that use the Westminster system have codified In law, codification is the process of collecting and restating the law of a jurisdiction in certain areas, usually by subject, forming a legal code, i.e. a codex of law the system in a written constitution A constitution is a set of laws that a set of people have made and agreed upon for government—often codified as a written document—that enumerates and limits the powers and functions of a political entity. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is. In the case of countries and autonomous regions of federal countries the.
However, uncodified conventions, practices and precedents continue to play a significant role in most countries, as many constitutions do not specify important elements of procedure: for example, some older constitutions using the Westminster system do not mention the existence of the cabinet and/or the prime minister, because these offices were taken for granted by the authors of these constitutions. Sometimes these conventions, reserve powers and other influences collide in times of crisis, and in such times the weaknesses of the unwritten aspects of the Westminster system, as well as the strengths of the Westminster system's flexibility, are put to the test. One of the best, and the most recent example, is the 1975 Australian Constitutional Crisis, when the Governor-General of Australia, Sir John Kerr, dismissed Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on his own reserve power authority and replaced him with Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser.
Operation
The pattern of executive functions within a Westminster System is quite complex. In essence, the head of state, usually a monarch or president, is a ceremonial figurehead who is the theoretical, nominal or de jure source of executive power within the system. In practice, such a figure does not actively exercise executive powers, even though executive authority may be exercised in his/her name.
The head of government, usually called the prime minister or premier, will ideally have the support of a majority in the responsible house, and must in any case be able to ensure the existence of no absolute majority against the government. If the parliament passes a resolution of no confidence, or refuses to pass an important bill such as the budget, then the government must either resign so that a different government can be appointed or seek a parliamentary dissolution so that new general elections may be held in order to re-confirm or deny the government's mandate.
Executive authority within a Westminster System is essentially exercised by the Cabinet, along with more junior ministers, although the head of government usually has the dominant role within the ministry. In the United Kingdom, the sovereign theoretically holds executive authority, even though the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Cabinet effectively implement executive powers. In a parliamentary republic like India, the President is the de jure executive, even though executive powers are essentially instituted by the Prime Minister of India and the Council of Ministers.
As an example, the Prime Minister and Cabinet (as the de facto executive body in the system) generally must seek the permission of the head of state when carrying out executive functions. If, for instance the British Prime Minister wished to dissolve parliament in order for a general election to take place, the Prime Minister is constitutionally bound to request permission from the sovereign in order to attain such a wish. This power (along with others such as appointing ministers in the government, appointing diplomats, declaring war, and signing treaties, for example) are known as the Royal Prerogative, which in modern times are exercised by the sovereign solely on the advice of the Prime Minister. Since the British sovereign is a constitutional monarch, he or she abides by the advice of his or her ministers, except when executing reserve powers in times of crisis.
This custom also occurs in other Westminster Systems in the world, in consequence from the influence of British colonial rule. In Commonwealth Realms such as Canada, New Zealand or Australia, the Prime Minister is obligated to seek permission from the Governor-General when implementing executive decisions, in a manner similar to the British practice. An analogous scenario also exists in Commonwealth Republics, such as India or Trinidad and Tobago.
The head of state will often hold meetings with the head of government and cabinet, as a means of keeping abreast of governmental policy and as a means of advising, consulting and warning ministers in their actions. Such a practice takes place in the United Kingdom and India. In the UK, the sovereign holds confidential weekly meetings with the Prime Minister to discuss governmental policy and to offer her opinions and advice on issues of the day. In India, the Prime Minister is constitutionally bound to hold regular sessions with the President, in a similar manner to the aforementioned British practice. In essence, the head of state, as the theoretical executive authority, "reigns but does not rule". This phrase means that the head of state's role in government is generally ceremonial and as a result does not directly institute executive powers. The reserve powers of the head of state are sufficient to ensure compliance with some of their wishes. However, the extent of such powers varies from one country to another and is often a matter of controversy.
Such an executive arrangement first emerged in the United Kingdom. Historically, the British sovereign held and directly exercised all executive authority. George I of Great Britain was the first British monarch to delegate some executive powers to a Prime Minister and a cabinet of the ministers,[citation needed] largely because he was also the monarch of Hanover in Germany and did not speak fluent English. Over time, arrangement continued to exercise executive authority on the sovereign's behalf. Such a concept was reinforced in The English Constitution (1876) by Walter Bagehot, who emphasised the "dignified" and "efficient" aspects of government. In this sense Bagehot was stating that the sovereign should be a focal point for the nation, while the PM and cabinet actually undertook executive decisions.
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Sat, 19 Jun 2010 14:10:12 GMT+00:00
Carroll County Times The Westminster Ringers will be taking their act to Music City, as one of 10 groups selected to participate in the American Guild of English Handbell ...
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which carried four near broadcast quality analogue signals and a fifth data channel Control of the system was provided by a computer located at the hub of the network in Senate House Figure 1 The Westminster cable system used multi mode fibre operating at 850nm which had an attenuation of 3 5dB km and a bandwidth of greater than 600Mhz km This enabled a transmission
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Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:42:09 GM
IN THE . Westminster system. , members of the executive are also MPs. They must combine administrative and political activities. It is possible that achieving an appropriate balance between management and political skills brings some ...
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Asked by Quikwal - Sat Oct 3 11:09:16 2009 - - 1 Answers - 0 Comments
