POL 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Minority Government, Majority Government

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL 100
• Professor: De Rooje

Document Summary

Legislature: an institution whose responsibilities include the approval of legislation and the raising and spending of funds by the government. In the united states it is called congress. Legislative responsibility refers to a situation in which a legislative majority has the constitutional power to remove a government from office without cause. The mechanism that the legislature can initiate to remove a government is called the vote of no confidence. The head of state is a cou(cid:374)try"s (cid:373)ai(cid:374) represe(cid:374)tative. Even so, it is the head of state who is responsible to ensure that a legitimate government is in place. The head of government is the person who heads the executive side of government and is usually responsible for choosing the cabinet. A parliamentary democracy is one in which the government depends only on a legislative majority to exist. The government comprises a prime minister and the cabinet: the prime minister is the political chief executive and head of the government.