GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS

Assistant Professor Ceren DOĞRU

Constitution
Constitution
Separation of Powers
 Separation of Powers
• The term "trias politica" or "separation of
powers" was coined by Charles-Louis de
Secondat, baron de La Brède et de
Montesquieu, an 18th century French social
and political philosopher.
• His publication, Spirit of the Laws , is
considered one of the great works in the
history of political theory
 Separation of Powers
• Under his model, the political authority of the
state is divided into legislative, executive and
judicial powers
• He asserted that, to most effectively promote
liberty, these three powers must be separate
and acting independently
 Separation of Powers
• Separation of powers, therefore, refers to the
division of government responsibilities into
distinct branches to limit any one branch from
exercising the core functions of another.
• The intent is to prevent the concentration of
power and provide for checks and balances.
• What is government?
 Types of Goverments
• There are many different forms of government but really
just eight apply to us today.
1) Absolute Monarchy (absolutism)
2) Limited Monarchy (Constitutional Monarchy)
3) Representative Democracy
4) Direct democracy
5) Dictatorship
6) Oligarchy
7) Totalitarianism
8) Theocracy
Goverments of Today
 Government Systems

Democracy Separation of Powers

 Democracy

• The term appeared in the 5th century BC in Greek city

states, notably Classical athens, to mean “rule of the
people”, in contrast to aristocracy meaning rule of an
elite
• Aristotle defines democracy: the poor will have more
power than the rich, because there are more of them,
and the will of the majority is supreme.
• In dictionary definition: Democracy is a system of
government in which state power is vested in the people
or the general population of a state
 Democracy
• In the phrase of Abraham Lincoln, democracy is a
government of the people, by the people, and for
the people.
• Freedom and democracy are often used
interchangeably, but the two are not synonymous.
• Democracy is indeed a set of ideas and principles
about freedom, but it also consists of a set of
practices and procedures that have been molded
through a long, often tortuous history.
 Democracy
• In short, democracy is the institutionalization
of freedom. For this reason, it is possible to
identify the time-tested fundamentals of
constitutional government, human rights, and
equality before the law that any society must
possess to be properly called democratic.
Democracy has two basic categories

Direct Representative
Democracies Democracies
 Direct Democracy
• Ancient Athens, the world's first democracy,
managed to practice direct democracy with an
assembly that may have numbered as many as
5,000 to 6,000 persons--perhaps the
maximum number that can physically gather
in one place and practice direct democracy.
 Direct Democracy
• In a direct democracy, all citizens, without the
intermediary of elected or appointed officials, can
participate in making public decisions
• Such a system is clearly only practical with
relatively small numbers of people--in a
community organization or tribal council, for
example, or the local unit of a labor union, where
members can meet in a single room to discuss
issues and arrive at decisions by consensus or
majority vote.
 Advantages of Direct Democracy
• Gives equal weight to all votes, unlike a representative
system where the varying sizes of constituencies
mean that votes do not all have equal value.
• Encourages popular participation in politics by
expecting people to take their duties as citizens
seriously
• Removes the need for trusted representatives, as
people can take responsibility for their own decisions.
• Develops a sense of community and encourages
genuine debate
Disadvantages of Direct Democracy
• Impractical in a large, heavily populated modern state
where decision-making is complicated.
• Many people will not want to-or feel qualified to- take
part in decision-making, so political activists decide
what happens.
• Open to manipulation by the cleverest and most
articulate speakers, who will persuade people to
support their viewpoint.
• Will of the majority is not mediated by parliamentary
institutions, so minority viewpoints are disregarded.
 Representative Democracy
• In the political science literature, representative
democracy is generally identified with liberal democracy,
in spite of the fact that the term covers a plurality of
different institutional designs-parliamentary and
presidential systems, constitutional monarchies,
authoritarian regimes, centralized and federal states, one
or more chamber parliaments and a diversity of electoral
systems
• Political scientist Dahl captured the essentials of the
liberal democratic system of government by noting the
eight key guarantees.
 Dahl’s eight guarantees
• freedom of association,
• freedom of expression,
• the right to vote,
• broad citizen eligibility for public office,
• the right to political leaders to compete for support,
• alternative sources of information,
• free and fair elections,
• institutions that make government policies depend
on voted an other forms of citizen preferences.
 Represantative(Indirect) Democracy
• Modern society, with its size and complexity,
offers few opportunities for direct democracy.
• Today, the most common form of democracy,
whether for a town of 50,000 or nations of 50
million, is representative democracy, in which
citizens elect officials to make political
decisions, formulate laws, and administer
programs for the public good.
 Represantative Democracy
• How such officials are elected can vary
enormously. On the national level, for
example, legislators can be chosen from
districts that each elect a single
representative.
• Alternatively, under a system of proportional
representation, each political party is
represented in the legislature according to its
percentage of the total vote nationwide
 Advantages of Rep. Democracy
• The only practical system in a large modern state, where issues
are complex and often need rapid response (e.g. deployment
of troops).
• Politicians form parties, bringing coherence and giving people a
real choice of representative. Pressure groups form to
represent different interests, promoting debate and
encouraging pluralist democracy.
• Reduces chances of minority rights being overridden by
"tyranny of the majority”.
• Elections allow people to hold representatives to account.
• Politicians are (in theory) better informed than the average
citizen about the many issues on which they must take a view.
 Disadvantages of Rep. Democracy
• May lead to reduced participation as people choose to hand
responsibility to politicians.
• Parties and pressure groups are often run by elites pursuing
their own agendas, not truly representing the people.
• Minorities may still find themselves underrepresented as
politicians are more likely to follow the views of the majority to
secure election.
• Politicians are skillful in avoiding accountability, especially as
general elections are five years apart in the UK.
• Politicians may be corrupt and incompetent, may betray
election promises or put loyalty to their party before
responsibility to the electorate.
 Majority Rule and Minority Rights

Majoritarian Democracy Pluralist Democracy

Çoğunlukçu Demokrasi Çoğulcu Demokrasi