POLI 1F90 Lecture Notes - Responsible Government

• School: Brock University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLI 1F90
• Professor: Bozidar Mitrovic

Document Summary

Shape of politics not only determined by political culture but also by the. New flurry of constitution building in europe (eu), iraq, former soviet bloc, Slide 2: institutions the structure of political institutions shapes the conduct of politics and types of public policy. Example: us and canadian health care systems in usa, multiple veto point thwart legislative agenda. Power of interest groups lack of party discipline structure of legislature. Executive dominance of prime minister means legislation easily passes. Vertical fragmentation but executive and legislature fused strong party discipline. Slide 4: what is a constitution? the fundamental laws, rules, practices that define the basic structures of government, allocates power among governmental institutions, and regulates the relationship between citizens and the state think of it as the master blueprint. All states have constitutions but these may not be respected by governments. E. g soviet constitution provided for secession of republics and for a free media constitutionalism: leaders are bound by the law.