POL S 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Indirect Election, Presidential System, Party System
Document Summary
Presidents: the pros and cons of independent executives. Presidential government is limited, due to a constitutionally designed separation of powers. In a presidential system, the people come to expect elections and understand that they take place at specifically provided times. Sense of stability allows both the executive and the people who indirectly elect the president to understand that policy choices are determined at a set time and place. Votes of no confidence: a feature of parliamentary systems in which members of the legislature deem the sitting executive as unfit to rule. No-confidence votes can result in a call for national elections. Powers of the president are determined by finite rules within a finite process that voters and other federal legislators learn to accept. Presidents agenda is independent of legislative initiatives and subject to certain legislative demands. Impeachment: the process by which a head of state (or occasionally a member of a legislature) is removed for illegal activity.
