Term
| Who is Head of State in Canada? How is (s)he represented? |
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Definition
| The British King/Queen, represented by the Governor General. |
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Term
| What are some of the powers of the Canadian PM? |
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Definition
- is head of the executive branch of the Canadian federal government;
- sits in the House of Commons with the other elected Members of Parliament;
- is the leader of the party that, usually, has the majority of the seats in the House of Commons thereby (čímž) it controls the House;
- is chosen by GG but the choice of GG is usually determined by the results of the elections |
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Term
| Briefly characterize Canadian political system. |
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Definition
| Constitutional monarchy, head of state is the Sovereign - King or Queen of GB, but represented by Governor General. Parliamentary democracy, two houses, House of Commons - popular vote, the Senate - appointed by GG on advice by PM. Cabinet is selected by PM. |
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Term
| What is the Governor General's position within the Canadian political system? |
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Definition
| Although the role is largely seen as ceremonial, GG actually appoints the Senate (with PM's advice), as well as selecting the Prime Minister - it is stipulated that GG must choose whomever he considers to be most likely to win the confidence of the House of Commons. Governor General is appointed by the Monarch on the advice of Canadian PM. The position is nominally time-unlimited, by the convention is to serve a 5-year term. |
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Term
| Electoral system in Canada |
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Definition
- Prime Minister must call a federal election at least every five years;
- Prime Minister must ask GG to dissolve or end Parliament;
- Prime Minister sets the date for the election and the candidates begin campaigning;
- once this is done, all the seats in the House of Commons are open and candidates must be elected or re-elected to fill them.
Representation in the House of Commons[edit]
Representation in the House of Commons is based on electoral districts, also known as constituencies or ridings. Each riding elects one member to the House of Commons, and the number of ridings is established through a formula set out in the Constitution.
Riding boundaries are established by independent commissions, and take into account:
population
social links
economic links
New commissions are set up every ten years to make any necessary revisions to existing boundaries, following criteria defined in the 'Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act. The process of redefining electoral boundaries is called "redistribution", and the results are recorded in a "representation order". The Representation Order of 2003 set the number of ridings at 308.
Electoral method[edit]
First past the post[edit]
Canada’s electoral system is referred to as a "first past the post" system. The candidate with the most votes in a riding wins a seat in the House of Commons and represents that riding as its Member of Parliament (MP). The Governor General asks the Members of Parliament to form a government, which is normally the party whose candidates have won the most seats; that party's leader generally becomes Prime Minister. An absolute majority of the electorate is not needed, and is rarely achieved. As a result, power has been held by either of two parties for most of Canada's history. The party whose candidates win the second largest number of seats becomes the Official Opposition. |
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Term
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Definition
| Over the last century, Liberal party prevalent. Conservatives, NDP - New Democratic Party, Bloc party - Bloc Quebecois. |
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Term
| Characterize briefly Australian political system.(federal level) |
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Definition
Combination of American and British model. Federalism with elements of Westminster. 1900 = written Constitution.
=> Australia was declared a federation in 1901 with the concurrence (souhlas) of the British Parliament, and now has a Federal Government, six State Governments and two mainland Territories which are largely self-governing (the Northern Territory, the Australian Capital Territory)
o The Constitution established that:
power would be shared between the federal and state parliaments
members of parliament would be elected
federal Parliament would be bicameral (consists of two houses), and represents the population overall (the lower House of Representatives) and the people in the states (the upper House - the Senate)
• The lower House – House of Representatives – today composed of 150 members elected from all states and territories for a three-year term, it is known as the people's house and a place where government is formed
• the Senate – at present it consists of 76 senators - 12 from each state and 2 from each territory; elected for a six-year term. The Senate was intended to protect the smaller states from the numerical dominance of the larger states in the House of Representatives. It serves as a check on the government. The Senate conducts much of its work through an established committee system
• altogether 226 members of Parliament
Federal Executive Council = Cabinet + Governor General presiding |
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Term
| Characterize briefly Australian political system (state level). |
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Definition
Each state has a Governor, appointed by the Queen, which by convention she does on the advice of the state Premier.
The Premier is the head of state government, appointed by the state's Governor
Each state has a bicameral Parliament – the upper house is called Legislative Council and the lower house id called Legislative Assembly (except in South Australia and Tasmania, where it is called the House of Assembly). Only Queensland has unicameral Parliament (abolished its upper house in 1922).
Except Tasmania, all states elect members from single member constituencies , using preferential voting (Alternative Voting, AV, see below).
Tasmania is the only state to use proportional representation for elections to its lower house (Legislative Assembly). The upper house (Legislative Council) is generally elected from multi-member constituencies using proportional representation. |
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Term
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Definition
The Australian party system has not changed much over the course of the twentieth century.
Generally speaking the parties formed in the early 1900's and still exist in some form today.
In the first decade of the twentieth century, three parties dominated federal politics:
o the Labor Party - formed in 1901 from the various colonial Labor parties
o the Protectionists
o the Free Traders
In 1909, the Protectionists and the Free Traders settled their differences and combined to form the Liberal Party thereby establishing the pattern of two party competition that has been the basis of the Australian party system ever since.
except the Labor Party and Liberal Party, also the National party of Australia dominates the party battles
o Labor Party - broadly representing the urban working class, although it increasingly has a base of sympathetic middle class support as well
o Liberal Party - a centre-right party broadly representing business, the suburban middle classes and many rural people; its permanent coalition partner at national level is the National Party of Australia
o the National Party of Australia (formerly known as the Country Party) - a rural or agrarian conservative party
o Liberal and National Parties are collectively known as the Coalition. In Queensland, the two parties have officially merged to form the Liberal National Party, and in the Northern Territory, the National Party is known as the Country Liberal Party.
however, as a result of the permanent coalition between the Liberal Party and National Party => Australian politics still operates as a two-party system
While there are a small number of other political parties that have achieved parliamentary representation , these main three dominate organized politics everywhere in Australia and only on rare occasions have any other parties or independent members of parliament played any role at all in the formation or maintenance of governments
Internal party discipline has historically been tight, unlike the situation in other countries such as the United States |
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Term
| What is the single most interesting thing about Australia's political system? |
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Definition
| Voting is mandatory for people over 18. |
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Term
| Compare the upper houses in SAR, Canada and Australia. Which is the "strongest" one? |
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Definition
| The Australian Senate combines the representational function with the revising role typical of the Westminster-style Senates. |
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Term
| Characterize briefly South African political system. |
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Definition
| This is a presidential democracy, where, interestingly, the president does not come up from a common poll. There are two houses: the National Assembly (350 - 400) reps, and the National Council of PRovinces (NCOP) - 90 reps, 10 for each province. President is voted by the NA, he then chooses the Cabinet (28 ministers). There is no Prime Minister. South Africa is a federal country, where significant powers are vested in the provincial and local governments. The prevalent force in the party system is ANC (African National Congress), the main contender is Democratic Alliance. The formerly dominant New National Party, which both introduced and ended apartheid through its predecessor the National Party, disbanded in 2005 to merge with the ANC(!!!) Other parties include Economic Freedom Fighters (third strongest). There is also a party named KISS - Keep it straight and simple. Jacob Zuma has been President since 2009. There is a rift between president Zuma and the Treasury secretariat concerning the plan to built new nuclear power plans - Zuma is in favour, despite the financial burden. |
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Term
| What is the similarity between the Australian Senate and the National Council of Provinces in SAR? |
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Definition
| They both operate on the federal level = their shared purpose is to provide further representation of the individual federal states. |
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Term
| Why is Australian Senate so strong? |
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Definition
| Like its fellows modelled in the Westminster style, AS is unable to initiate revenue gathering bills. However, the Senate is still able to reject supply bills or defer their passage = so it can practically block the Government's money income. |
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Term
| Describe briefly the political system of India |
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Definition
India is a federal parliamentary democratic republic, in which the President of India is the head of the country and the Prime Minister of India is the head of the government. India follows the dual polity system, i.e. a double government which consists of the central authority at the centre and states at the periphery. The constitution defines the organization powers and limitations of both central and state governments, and it is well-recognised, rigid and considered supreme; i.e. laws of the nation must conform to it.here is a provision for a bicameral Union legislature consisting of an Upper House, i.e. Rajya Sabha, which represents the states of the Indian federation and a lower house i.e. Lok Sabha, which represents the people of India as a whole. The Indian constitution provides for an independent Judiciary which is headed by the Supreme Court. The court's mandate is to protect the constitution, to settle disputes between the central government and the states, inter-state disputes, to nullify any central or state laws that go against the constitution and protect fundamental rights of citizens, issuing writs or their enforcement, in case of violation.[1]
The governments, union or state, are formed through elections held every five years (unless otherwise specified), by parties that claim a majority of members in their respective lower houses (Lok Sabha in centre and Vidhan Sabha in states). India had its first general election in 1951, which was won by the Indian National Congress, a political party that went on to dominate the successive elections up until 1977, when the first non-Congress government was formed for the first time in independent India. The 1990s saw the end of single party domination and rise of coalition governments. The elections for the 17th Lok Sabha, held from April 2014 to May 2014, once again brought back single-party rule in the country, with the Bharatiya Janata Party being able to claim a majority in the Lok Sabha.[2] |
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Term
| Compare the powers vested in the Prime Minsters in the political systems of our interest. |
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Definition
| First, this is a catch - there is no PM in SAR. India - PM has a set of resorts reserved for him\her. He advises the President on the distribution of tasks to the ministries, the PM also selects the Cabinet... In Canada, the PM also advises the Governor-General on whom to appoint to the Senate. |
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Term
| What is the common feature of the Senates in Australia, SAR and India? |
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Definition
| The Senate represents the individual federal states. |
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Term
| What is the common feature of both Canadian and Indian voting system? |
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Definition
| They both use the first-past the post system. |
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Term
| What is the common feature of Indian Rajiya Sabha and Australian Senate? |
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Definition
| Both of these upper chambers elect the representatives via STV system. In Australia, however, the vote is direct, whereas in India the vote is made by state and territorial legislatures. |
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Term
| What is the similarity between the Canadian and the Australian PM? |
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Definition
| They are both commissioned by Governor-General. |
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Term
| What is the similarity between the President of the RSA and the President of India? |
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Definition
| They are both voted indirectly. While the southafrican president is elected by the National Assembly, things are more complicated in India. The President of the Republic is indirectly elected by the people through elected members of both the houses of the Parliament of the Republic of India, the Legislative Assemblies of all the states of the Republic of India and the Legislative Assembly of the Union Territory of Puducherry, as well as, the Legislative Assembly of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and serves for a renewable term of five years. |
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Term
| Name common features of South African Council of National Provinces and other upper houses of parliaments. |
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Definition
| Similarly to Canadian Senate, the members are elected indirectly. However, in Canada they are appointed by the Governor-General, whereas in RSA: Election to the NCOP is indirect: citizens vote for provincial legislatures, and each legislature then nominates a delegation of ten members to the NCOP. This means that each of South Africa's nine provinces has equal representation in the Council regardless of population. |
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