Federation and the Westminster System 2
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Constitutional Reform in the English-Speaking Caribbean: Challenges and Prospects
Constitutional Reform in the English-Speaking Caribbean: Challenges and Prospects A report prepared for the Conflict Prevention and Peace Forum January 2011 The Constitutional Design Group Principals Zachary Elkins | [email protected] Tom Ginsburg | [email protected] Lead Research Associate Justin Blount | [email protected] The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect those of CPPF or the Social Science Research Council. Constitutional Reform in the ESC p. 2 CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 3 Historical Perspectives on Constitutional Reform in the ESC ................................................. 4 Decolonization and the Independece Constitutions ............................................................... 4 The Rise and Fall of the West Indies Federation ................................................................... 5 Characteristics of ESC Constitutions ......................................................................................... 6 Some General Notes on the Nature of ESC Constitutional Texts ......................................... 7 Executives, Legislatures, and the Judiciary ........................................................................... 8 Fidelity to the Westminster Parliamentary System ........................................................... 8 The Judiciary ..................................................................................................................... -
Cultural Adaptation and the Westminster Model: Some Examples from Fiji and Samoa
Cultural Adaptation and the Westminster Model: Some Examples from Fiji and Samoa by Richard Herr Law Faculty, University of Tasmania and Adjunct Professor of Governance and Ethics, Fiji National University. for HOW REPRESENTATIVE IS REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY? Australasian Study of Parliament Group ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2 OCTOBER 2014 Author’s Caution: This paper very much reflects the author’s interpretation of events in which the author has a continuing involvement. Its analysis meant to be objective as possible but objectivity itself can be controversial in uncertain times. This difficulty is cannot be resolved but it is acknowledged. Cultural Adaptation of the Westminster Model: Some Examples from Fiji and Samoa R.A. Herr* Paper Abstract: The Westminster form of responsible government has been extensively adopted and adapted countries around the world including many of the 14 independent and self‐governing states in the Pacific Island region. Yet, either formally or through the informal continuation of customary practices pre‐Westminster political processes remain contemporary influences within the region. This paper touches on two sources of tension in the process of cultural adaptation of the Westminster system in the region. Samoa has long managed to draw a stable, majority‐supported ministry from the parliament without significant difficulty but electorally its non‐ liberal traditional system has proved challenging. The accommodation has worked consistently over decades to preserve fa’a Samoa (Samoan custom) as a central element in its political processes. By contrast, following the December 2006 military coup, Fiji had also sought to remove its non‐liberal traditional elements in order to address the sources of domestic tension that stemmed from the use of the Westminster system. -
The British Parliament-House of Commons Page 01
THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT-HOUSE OF COMMONS PAGE 01 Table of Contents 1. Letter from the Chair 2. Introduction 3. Members of the Parliament (Delegate expectations) 4. Special procedure Topic: Counter terrorism in Great Britain a. History of terrorism in the United Kingdom b. Threat of terrorism at Home c. Role and Scope of the Security Agencies d. Border Security and Migrant Crisis 6. QARMAs 7. Recommended bibliography 8. References GOING BEYOND PAGE 2 1. Letter from the Chair. Dear Members of Parliament, It is our honour to welcome you to EAFITMUN and to the committee. We are Eduardo Tisnes Zapata, law student at EAFIT University and Federico Freydell Mesa, law student at El Rosario University, and we will be chairing EAFITMUN’s House of Commons. The last few years, have put this House under pressure for reasons involving the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, overseas and domestic terrorism and security crises; the flow of migrants from the Middle East and Africa and the lack of political consensus between the Government and the Opposition. The challenges you will face in the committee will not only require from you background academic knowledge, but they will demand your best abilities to negotiate between parties and to propose solutions that work best for the British people, meeting halfway and reaching across the House. As it is obvious we cannot have 650 MPs, therefore we will try to reproduce the Commons’ majorities and parties representation in the House. Nevertheless, no party will hold an overall majority, making solution and policymaking more challenging. -
Australia's System of Government
61 Australia’s system of government Australia is a federation, a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. This means that Australia: Has a Queen, who resides in the United Kingdom and is represented in Australia by a Governor-General. Is governed by a ministry headed by the Prime Minister. Has a two-chamber Commonwealth Parliament to make laws. A government, led by the Prime Minister, which must have a majority of seats in the House of Representatives. Has eight State and Territory Parliaments. This model of government is often referred to as the Westminster System, because it derives from the United Kingdom parliament at Westminster. A Federation of States Australia is a federation of six states, each of which was until 1901 a separate British colony. The states – New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania - each have their own governments, which in most respects are very similar to those of the federal government. Each state has a Governor, with a Premier as head of government. Each state also has a two-chambered Parliament, except Queensland which has had only one chamber since 1921. There are also two self-governing territories: the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The federal government has no power to override the decisions of state governments except in accordance with the federal Constitution, but it can and does exercise that power over territories. A Constitutional Monarchy Australia is an independent nation, but it shares a monarchy with the United Kingdom and many other countries, including Canada and New Zealand. The Queen is the head of the Commonwealth of Australia, but with her powers delegated to the Governor-General by the Constitution. -
Westminster Model Or Westminster Muddle? a Term in Search of a Meaning
THIS IS DRAFT WORK - PLEASE DO NOT QUOTE OR CITE WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE AUTHORS Westminster Model or Westminster Muddle? A Term in Search of a Meaning Paper to 12th Workshop of Parliamentary Scholars and Parliamentarians Wroxton College, Oxfordshire, 25-26 July 2015 Meg Russell and Ruxandra Serban Constitution Unit, Department of Political Science, University College London Contact: [email protected] Abstract Those working in parliamentary studies will be well acquainted with the term Westminster model', which continues to be widely used in both the academic and practitioner literature. But closer examination of this term suggests significant confusion about its meaning. It began as a descriptor for the UK political system, and gradually developed a broader meaning in comparative politics, to include a 'family' of Westminster model countries. More recently it has become associated with Arend Lijphart's widely cited work which uses the model as an ideal type, representing centralised, majoritarian government. In this paper we follow Giovanni Sartori's advice for 'reconstructing' a social science term whose meaning may be unclear, by reviewing its use in the recent literature. We find that many authors use the term without definition, while those who do provide definitions suggest a large (and sometimes conflicting) set of attributes associated with the model, and a set of countries which frequently do not demonstrate these attributes. Some authors have suggested variants such as "Washminster" or "Eastminster" in order to reflect this diversity, while others have suggested that the term should be seen as a 'family resemblance' rather than a classical social science concept. -
In Contemporary Jamaica There Are Two Major Political Parties
Rex McKenzie The Party & The Garrison Aug 2005 Introduction This work is intended to be a scholarly contribution in the area of Caribbean Political Economy. It is premised on the notion that the peculiar history of Jamaica, the slave plantation origin through to the colonial, neocolonial and post colonial forms of economic organization tend to the formation and reproduction of the total institution as a system of social organization.1 RT Smith in the original application of the Goffman concept of the total institution to plantation society describes it as a bureaucratically organized system in which blocks of people are treated as units and are marched through a set of regimented activities under the close surveillance of a small supervisory staff. 2 With regard to the social system and the corresponding social relations causality is assumed to flow from the political system and the political culture. In the post independence period (after 1962) patron-client relations between the state, its institutions and sections of the urban poor emerge as the defining social relationships of the social system as a whole. But these relationships are rooted in the history of the island with the relationship between the plantation owner (or his representative) and the slave exhibiting similar pronounced patron-client features. In my formulation the post independence emergence of the garrison constituency is construed as part of the historical imperative toward culturally familiar total institution forms of social management. Figueroa 1 The idea of the total institutions comes from Goffman’s 1960’s work on Asylums. In it small socially recognizable groups drive a larger group in through the production process in a very regimented and differentiated manner. -
Commonwealth, Parliament and Democracy Teachers’ Resource Pack
Commonwealth, Parliament and Democracy Teachers’ Resource Pack In collaboration withIn collaboration with COMMONWEALTH, PARLIAMENT AND DEMOCRACY TEACHERS RESOURCE PACK Introduction ‘Young people have a proven capability to lead change, and are a vital and valuable investment for now and the future.’ Mr Akbar Khan, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association at the opening of the Commonwealth Youth Parliament 2016 ‘ We recognise the positive and active role and contributions of young people in promoting development, peace and democracy and in protecting and promoting other Commonwealth values, such as tolerance and understanding, including respect for other cultures.’ Commonwealth Charter, Article XIII, The Importance of Young People in the Commonwealth The materials in this resource pack are designed for teachers to help provide factual information and exciting cross-curricular activities for students aged 7-14, to learn and think critically about the Commonwealth, democracy and Parliament. They aim to expand knowledge and understanding, provide opportunities to develop core skills and encourage young people to explore and reflect on local and global issues. Each unit contains information for teachers, ideas for discussion and suggestions for cross-curricular activities. These can be used as starting points in individual lessons, or as elements of a larger cross-curricular joint project involving collaboration over a number of subjects perhaps with a partner school overseas. However you use these resources we hope -
Head of State – Parliament Relations: Walter Bagehot and Constitution Act 1934 (TAS)
Head of State – Parliament Relations: Walter Bagehot and Constitution Act 1934 (TAS) Richard Herr Faculty of Law University of Tasmania Australasian Study of Parliament Group 2017 Annual Conference, Parliament House Hobart, Tasmania 27-29 September [Not for quotation without author’s permission] Head of State – Parliament Relations: Walter Bagehot and Constitution Act 1934 (TAS) Richard Herr Sometime during the next six months Tasmanians will go to the polls to elect a new House of Assembly. However, this is not what most voters believe they will be doing. There is a widely shared assumption amongst the voters, media and political parties that the purpose of the ballot will be to elect a Government. Many will recognise that their vote for a Premier or a Government is filtered through the Parliament without being aware of the precise linkages at work. However, even those who are vaguely aware of the role of the Parliament, there is a fairly general belief (as there is across Australia) that the intermediacy of the legislature is largely pro forma. The assumption that the preferences expressed in the polling booth ought to be translated more or less directly into Governmental outcomes has been clearly on display at the national level over the past decade. The public repeatedly gave vent to outrage whenever internal party spills changed what many voters perceived as their intended vote for a particular Prime Minister or a Government.1 While this electoral disconnect could be disparaged simply as civic ignorance, it would be rather unfair. For very practical reasons, the voting public is entitled not to notice the “blip” between the ballot box and the installation of a Government following the election. -
The Theory of Bicameralism 18
The Upper House Question South Australian Bicameralism in Comparative Perspective Jordan M. Bastoni, B.A. (Hons.) A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the discipline of Politics at the University of Adelaide, 18 December 2009 Contents Abstract iii Declaration iv Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 Chapter One The Theory of Bicameralism 18 Chapter Two The Decline of Responsible Government 32 Chapter Three The History of the South Australian Parliament 41 Chapter Four The Parliament of the United Kingdom 53 Chapter Five The Parliament of Canada 65 Chapter Six The Parliament of New Zealand 74 Chapter Seven The Parliament of Queensland 85 Chapter Eight The Development of the Other Parliaments of 111 Australia Discussion Lessons from the Case Studies 130 Chapter Nine Methods of Composition 139 Chapter Ten The House of Review 158 Chapter Eleven The South Australian Legislative Council into the 176 Future: an analysis of potential reforms Conclusion 193 Bibliography 200 ii Abstract This thesis presents an examination of bicameralism as it operates in Australia. The specific focus is the parliament of South Australia, where the existence of the Legislative Council recently came under threat. Prior to the 2006 State election, the Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann, announced that, concurrent with the 2010 State election, a referendum would be held at which the people of South Australia would be able to decide the future of the Legislative Council. They were to be presented with three options: the retention of the Legislative Council with no changes made; a reduction in the size of the Legislative Council from 22 members to 16, and a reduction in the term length served by members from eight years to four years; and finally, the abolition of the Legislative Council (the stated preferred position of Rann). -
Theparliamentarian
100 years of publishing 1920-2020 TheParliamentarian Journal of the Parliaments of the Commonwealth 2020 | Volume 101 | Issue Four | Price £14 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA AND PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY IN THE COMMONWEALTH PAGES 308-323 PLUS The City of London, its Hansard Technology: Parliamentary Why Women’s Remembrancer and All Change for the Expressions & Leadership Matters the Commonwealth Official Report Practices in the During COVID-19 and Commonwealth Beyond PAGE 334 PAGE 338 PAGE 340 PAGE 350 IN TIMES LIKE THESE PARLIAMENTS NEED ALL THE RESOURCES THEY CAN GET! DOWNLOAD CPA’S NEW PUBLICATION NOW www.cpahq.org/cpahq/modellaw THE CPA MODEL LAW FOR INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTS Based on the important values laid down in the Commonwealth Latimer House Principles and the Doctrine of the Separation of Powers, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) has created a MODEL LAW FOR INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTS. This draft legislation is aimed at Commonwealth Parliaments to use as a template to create financially and administratively independent institutions. Specifically, the Model Law enables Parliaments to create Parliamentary Service Commissions and to ensure Parliaments across the Commonwealth have the resources they need to function effectively without the risk of Executive interference. www.cpahq.org STATEMENT OF PURPOSE The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) exists to connect, develop, promote and support Parliamentarians and their staff to identify benchmarks of good governance, and implement the enduring values of the Commonwealth. Calendar of Forthcoming Events Updated as at 16 November 2020 Please note that due to the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) global pandemic, many CPA events, conferences and activities have been postponed or cancelled. -
Westminster Style Democracy
Preface This is the ninth year since the institution of the Grace, Kennedy Foundation Lecture. The range of subjects treated so far has been widely varied as we have explored out developing society, analysing its challenges and searching for solutions. The members of the Lecture Committee have usually sought outside themselves for the persons who would be invited to present the lecture each year. The subject for this year, Democracy Westminster Style: The Jamaican Experience, called for a special set of qualifications; and we felt that to go outside of our number would be to do an injustice to the purpose we seek to serve. For in Professor Gladstone Mills, the Chairman of the Grace, Kennedy Foundation, we have a Jamaican uniquely qualified both by his academic work in the area of Government and in his practical involvement in critical areas of our nation's life at very crucial moments over the last forty years. The Professor has shared his wealth with us and this printed booklet of the lecture is going to be required reading for those who would understand Jamaica's political and constitutional odyssey this century and be helped to an appreciation of what a wholesome, well-governed nation might look like. He has given us an introduction to our Constitution as a working system and how it has fared in our hands; an insight into attempts to defend the electoral system against the corruption of dishonest power-seekers; a critique of Local Government and the possibilities of reform; the role of the Civil Service and the general issues of maintaining integrity in the different sectors of civil society; the need for constitutional, electoral and administrative reform; and possible roads ahead. -
Structure and Function: a Guide To
1 Parliamentary Publications available Legislative Council of Western Australia. Membership Register, Electoral Law and Statistics 1890–1989. David Black, 1989. Revised 1991. Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia, Volume One 1870–1930. David Black and Geoffrey Bolton, 1990. Revised and updated 2001. Biographical Register of Members of the Parliament of Western Australia, Volume Two 1930–2010. David Black and Geoffrey Bolton, 2011. The House on the Hill. A History of the Parliament of Western Australia 1832–1990. David Black (ed.), 1991. Legislative Council of Western Australia: Elections and Electoral Law 1867–1890. David Black and Brian de Garis, 1992. Making a Difference: A Frontier of Firsts. Women in the Western Australian Parliament 1921-2012. David Black and Harry Phillips, 2012. House to House: The Story of Western Australia’s Government and Parliament Houses over 175 years. Phillip Pendal and David Black, 2004. Election Statistics: Legislative Assembly of Western Australia 1890–1996. David Black, 1997. Speakers and Presidents of the Western Australian Parliament, Harry Phillips, 2004. Parliament: Mirror of the People? Members of the Parliament of Western Australia 1890–2007, Phillip Pendal, David Black and Harry Phillips, 2007. An Index to Parliamentary Candidates in Western Australian Elections State and Federal 1890–2014. David Black, 2014. The Western Australian Parliamentary Handbook, Twenty-Third Edition, edited by David Black, 2014. Copies available from: Parliamentary Reception Services Ground Floor Parliament House Harvest Terrace PERTH WA 6000 Telephone: (08) 9222 7688 [email protected] Parliamentary Education Publications Second Reading: Parliamentary Government in Western Australia, Harry Phillips, 2004. (Third internet ed.