POL S101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: C-Span, Presidential System, Gerrymandering
7 Jun 2018
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CHAPTER 9
Legislatures and Legislators
The Functions of Legislatures
•Crucial to any political system, especially democratic ones
•Serve as checks on executive power
•Can be comparatively examined through institutional arrangements or functions
performed
•Three primary functions: representational, governmental, and procedural
Representation
•Legislatures provide a forum for different classes to express their views
•Originally only consultative
•Evolved to become constraints on executive power
•Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged to construct a cabinet that “looks like Canada”
o50 per cent women
oTwo Indigenous ministers (one First Nations the other Inuk)
oFour South Asian ministers
oThe country’s first Muslim cabinet minister
What Does Representation Entail?
•Numerical representation?
•Should the numbers of women in the legislature correspond to the number of women in
society?
•How should ethnic or religious minorities be represented?
•Is it the population or the elites who are represented?
What Does Representation Entail? cont’d
•To what extent is a representative expected only to voice the opinions of his or her
constituency?
•Is he or she subject to recall?
•To what extent is the representative trusted to express his or her own opinions?
•Is he or she granted parliamentary immunity?
Constituencies
•In most cases, representatives are elected from a particular geographic district
•In places like Israel, Peru, and the Netherlands, the whole country is a single constituency
oCombines proportional representation and a low threshold for representation (2% in
Israel, 0.67% in the Netherlands)
Constituencies, cont’d
•How large should constituencies be?
•Who should draw the boundaries?
oElections Canada
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State legislatures
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Document Summary
The functions of legislatures: crucial to any political system, especially democratic ones, serve as checks on executive power, can be comparatively examined through institutional arrangements or functions performed, three primary functions: representational, governmental, and procedural. Constituencies: in most cases, representatives are elected from a particular geographic district, in places like israel, peru, and the netherlands, the whole country is a single constituency ocombines proportional representation and a low threshold for representation (2% in. Constituencies, cont"d: how large should constituencies be, who should draw the boundaries? oelections canada ostate legislatures. 2018-06-05 ostate legislatures: gerrymandering : the drawing of electoral boundaries to favour one"s own party. Governmental functions: refers to the formation and operation of government, formulation and implementation of policy, two main forms of organization, parliamentary systems, presidential systems. Presidentialism: american style, legislative and executive branches are separate, legislature has no say in who is chosen to be president.
