POL 2104 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Bookkeeping, Clientelism, Rationality

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POL 2104
• Professor: Joseph Roman

Document Summary

Executives and legislatures - illustrate how the relationship between the executive and the legislature differs in presidential and parliamentary systems of government. The role of legislatures (skeptics of executive decisions) Democracy = disagreement: represent the public opinion of the population, scrutinize the executive, arena of deliberation, perform legislative oversight by analyzing bills, usually through committees. The role of the executive: regardless of the system, all executives, set priorities, make decisions, resolve crises, ensure policies are implemented. Pros: policymaking is efficient, continuity, greater flexibility. Cons: multiple parties sitting in the legislature leads to instability, the legislature becomes a rubber stamp during a majority government. Pros: constant bargaining between the two branches of government, greater policy reflexivity, the executive cannot control the careers of legislators. What are bureaucracies: carry out the daily operations of the state, organized along departmental lines to determine its function each department functions autonomously according to its own logic.