In this article you will learn about the Features of Parliamentary Form of Government in Political Science.
Features of Parliamentary Form of Government
1. Difference between the Nominal and Real Executive
In a Parliamentary Government, the executive has two parts : (1) The Nominal Executive, and (2) The Real Executive. The head of the state is the Nominal Executive. All the executive powers are vested with him but he himself does not exercise these. These are in reality exercised by the Council of Ministers with the Prime Minister as its head. It is called the Real Executive. Head of state is only a nominal and constitutional head of the executive in whose name the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers really exercise all executive powers.
2. Structure of the Real Executive involves Wheels within a Wheel
The structural organisation of the Council of Ministers is of the nature of wheels within a wheel. The innermost wheel, the real centre of power, is the office of the Prime Minister. Next to it is an informal wheel consisting of such ministers as are very close to the Prime Minister. It is called the Kitchen Cabinet or the Inner Cabinet. The next wheel consists of some important (15 or 20) ministers (cabinet ministers), who hold important portfolios and who together formulate all the policies of the state. This wheel is called the Cabinet. It is the really powerful part of the real executive. The next wheel consists of all the other cabinet ministers who are either incharge of small departments or are helpers/deputies to the Cabinet ministers. The outermost wheel consists of the members of the majority party whose confidence and support in the legislature is the real source of the power of the Council of Ministers. As such the Council of Ministers is the whole which consists of several categories of ministers. Cabinet is a part of the Council of Ministers, but at the same time it is its most powerful part. The Council of Ministers consists of some 70 ministers out of which only cabinet ministers constitute the Cabinet.
3. Close and Continuous Relationship between the Legislature and the Executive
In the Parliamentary form, the executive is very closely related to the legislature. Executive is constituted out of the legislature. The leader of the majority party in the legislature gets appointed as the Prime Minister and all other ministers are also drawn from amongst the members of the majority party in the legislature. If a non-member of legislature is made a minister, he has to secure the membership of either house of the legislature within a fixed period. In case he fails to secure it, he has to relinquish his ministership. The ministers, along with their headships of executive departments, continue to be members of the legislature. Their role as legislators gets invigorated as most of the bills are submitted and piloted by them in the legislature. The executive has a continuous, active and close link with the legislature.
4. Ministerial Responsibility
The concept of ministerial responsibility is the backbone of a Parliamentary Government. Responsibility of the executive before the legislature is a fundamental feature of this form of government. The legislature exercises continuous control over the executive.
The concept of ministerial responsibility has three dimensions :
- Responsibility of the Ministers towards the Head of the State
- Individual Responsibility of each Ministers
- Collective Responsibility of the Council of Ministers i.e. all Ministers including the Prime Minister.
5. Non-fixed tenure of the Real Executive i.e. Council of Ministers
The Council of Ministers remains in office so long as it enjoys the confidence of the majority in the legislature. It can be removed from office any time by the legislature by passing a vote of no-confidence. The majority remains in office only so long as it enjoys the confidence of the people as expressed through their legislature. Hence, its tenure is not fixed. However, once constituted a Council of Ministers can have a maximum tenure of 4 or 5 years, which usually is the tenure of the legislature.
These are some salient features of the Parliamentary form of Government. Since these features are present in the Indian, British, Japanese, Canadian and Australian political systems, they all have parliamentary governments.
This article on Features of Parliamentary Form of Government in Political Science is contributed by Dipshikha Anand. If you like LawStudyPoint.com do follow us on our Twitter handle.