parliamentary system is a system of democraticA
governance of a state where the executive branch
derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to
command the confidence of the
legislative branch,
typically a parliament, and is also held accountable to
that parliament. In a parliamentary system, the head
of state is usually a different person from the head of
government. This is in contrast to a presidential
system, where the head of state often is also the
head of government and, most importantly, the
executive branch does not derive its democratic
legitimacy from the legislature.
Countries with parliamentary democracies may be
constitutional monarchies, where a monarch is the
head of state while the head of government is
almost always a
member of parliament (such as the
United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Japan), or
parliamentary republics, where a mostly ceremonial
president is the head of state while the head of
government is regularly from the legislature (such as
Ireland, Germany, India and Italy). In a few
parliamentary republics, such as Botswana, South
Africa, and Suriname, among
some others, the head
of government is also head of state, but is elected by
and is answerable to parliament. In
bicameral
parliaments, the head of government is generally,
though not always, a member of the lower house.
Parliamentarism is the dominant form of government
in Europe, with 32 of its 50 sovereign states being
parliamentarian. It is also common in the Caribbean,
being the form of government of 10 of its 13 island
states, and in Oceania. Elsewhere in the world,
parliamentary countries are less common, but they
are distributed through all continents, most often in
former
British Empire colonies.
History Since ancient times, when societies were tribal, there
were councils or a headman whose decisions were
assessed by village elders. Eventually these councils
have slowly evolved into the modern Parliamentary
system.
The first parliaments date back to Europe in the
Middle Ages, for example in 1188 Alfonso IX, King of
Leon convened the three states in the
Cortes of León.
[1][2]An early example of parliamentary government
developed in today"s Netherlands and Belgium during
the
Dutch revolt (1581), when the sovereign,
legislative and executive powers were taken over by
the
States General of the Netherlands from the then-
[citation needed]monarch, King Philip II of Spain. The
modern concept of parliamentary government
emerged in the
Kingdom of Great Britain between
1707–1800 and its contemporary, the Parliamentary
System in Sweden between 1721–1772.
In England, Simon de Montfort is remembered as one
of the fathers of representative government for
[3][4]holding two famous parliaments. The first, in
1258, stripped the King of unlimited authority and the
second, in 1265, included
ordinary citizens from the
[5]towns. Later, in the 17th century, the Parliament of
England pioneered some of the ideas and systems of
liberal democracy culminating in the Glorious
[6][7]Revolution and passage of the Bill of Rights 1689.
In the Kingdom of Great Britain, the monarch, in
theory, chaired cabinet and chose ministers. In
practice, King
George I"s inability to speak English led
the responsibility for chairing cabinet to go to the
leading minister, literally the
prime or first minister,
Robert Walpole. The gradual democratisation of
parliament with the broadening of the voting
franchise increased parliament"s role in controlling
government, and in deciding who the king could ask
to form a government. By the nineteenth century, the
Great Reform Act of 1832 led to parliamentary
dominance, with its choice invariably deciding who
was prime minister and the complexion of the
[8][9]government.
Other countries gradually adopted what came to be
called the
Westminster Model of government, with an
executive answerable to parliament, but exercising
powers nominally vested in the head of state, in the
name of the head of state. Hence the use of phrases
like Her Majesty"s government or His Excellency"s
government. Such a system became particularly
prevalent in older British dominions, many of whom
had their constitutions enacted by the British
parliament; examples include Australia, New Zealand,
Canada, the
Irish Free State and the Union of South
Africa. Some of these parliaments evolved, were
reformed from, or were initially developed as distinct
from their original British model: the
Australian
Senate, for instance, has since its inception more
closely reflected the US Senate than the British House
of Lords; whereas since 1950 there is no upper house
in New Zealand.
Democracy and parliamentarism became increasingly
prevalent in Europe in the years after World War I,
partially imposed by the democratic victors, Great
Britain and France, on the defeated countries and
their successors, notably
Germany"s Weimar Republic
and the new Austrian Republic. Nineteenth century
urbanisation, industrial revolution and, modernism had
already fueled the political left"s struggle for
democracy and parliamentarism for a long time. In
the radicalised times at the end of World War I,
democratic reforms were often seen as a means to
counter popular revolutionary currents.
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