Government system and The Madison’s dilemma

Government system and The Madison’s dilemma

1. Define the dilemma, list, and briefly describe the four institutional choices countries make to address the dilemma.

The dilemma described below is how to handle democracy properly. Democracy requires a balance where the rules support both participation and contestation. For a nation to have a valid government system, should they either concentrate the power or disperse it. There are four institutional choices that a country can make. The first crucial decision is to decide whether the constitution should be unitary or federal. Unitarian principles are the ones in which the law allows the central government exclusive and final authority over policymaking. The local, state, and regional governments grant the central government veto power. In federalism, the constitution gives power to two or more governments. They overlap political authority over the same piece of territory and group of people. Another institutional choice is choosing a presidential or parliamentary or hybrid semi-presidential system. The third institutional choice is to have a judicial review of parliamentary supremacy. The last option is to have plurality or majority-rule versus the proportional and mixed electoral system. All these systems help to balance democracy. The hybrid system has both the president and the parliament. There is a dual executive where authority is divided between the president and the prime minister.

2. For Portugal, Canada, and Brazil describe the four institutional choices in detail and discuss how they address Madison’s dilemma.

Portugal has a unitary semi-presidential representative system. The prime minister is the head of the government, and the president is the executive ruler of the nation with several critical political powers.  The executive has the president and council of ministers while is in both the government and the assembly of the country. The judiciary, on the other hand, is independent. They address Madison’s challenge by concentrating power on specific arms of the government. The government has the final authority in making policies though each body keeps the other in check. Authority has been divided between the president and the prime minister to ensure there is a balanced system.

Brazil is a federal state where the country uses federalism to disperse power. The constitution has granted over one government power to overlap political authority. The local and state levels have exclusive control of at least one policy area. The federal systems are not required to veto policy decisions that are in sub-national government control. Brazil addresses Madison’s dilemma by using a federal constitution which tends to disperse and fragment political power.

Canada has a federal administration. The central administration has a parliamentary system which is under a constitutional monarchy. There are three levels of government; federal, provincial, and municipal. The prime minister heads the federal government and handles national and international issues. Premiers lead the provinces and mayors the city governments and citizens elect political representatives at all levels of the government. The constitutional monarchy helps in addressing Madison’s dilemma whereby the king or queen is the head of the state while the prime minister is the head of the government.

3. Which country addresses Madison’s dilemma better, and why?

Brazil has a better constitutional institution since they ensure the power has been dispersed rather than being concentrated. The president is the head of the state and head of the government with a multi-party system. The country has states and federal districts. The states have their government, and the federal government has three independent bodies. This ensures the power has been dispersed, and people can enjoy democracy. They can access the government even at the lowest levels. Policies are not made by one body, and this ensures inclusivity. The government does not practice the unitary system. The constitution guarantees laws are governing the presidential system, and everybody has their specific tasks. The people elect each political representative for a specified period.

Reference

Carr, A. (n.d.). Welcome to PsephosAdam Carr’s Election ArchiveThe largest, most comprehensive, and most up-to-date archive of electoral information in the world, with election statistics from 182 countries. Use the alphabetical index at left to find information about every country in the world. Follow me on Twitter for (irregular) updates. This archive was founded in May 1999 by Dr. Adam Carr of Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from http://psephos.adam-carr.net/.s

(n.d.). The IPU Parliamentary database. Retrieved from http://www.ipu.org/parline-e/parlinesearch.asp.