O parliamentarism it is a system of government in which the head of state and head of government are two different people. This is because the head of government is the prime minister, elected by the parliamentarians of the chambers; and that of State is the king or the president. These legislative houses have the power to vote on measures, laws and bills across the country.
The most famous experience is the English one, as it was there that this system emerged as a response to the broad powers of absolutist kings. However, several countries currently adopt it. In Brazil, there were even two attempts: in the first, they invented an upside-down way of parliamentarism, and the second did not last long, due to the popular will.
Read too: Autocracy — the system of government in which power is concentrated in the hands of a single person
Topics of this article
- 1 - Summary about parliamentarism
- 2 - Characteristics of parliamentarism
- 3 - How does parliamentarism work?
- 4 - English parliamentarism
- 5 - Parliamentarianism in Brazil
- 6 - Countries that adopt parliamentarism
- 7 - What are the differences between parliamentarism and presidentialism?
Summary on parliamentarism
- The main characteristics of parliamentarism are: the head of government is the prime minister and the head of state is the king or president. In addition, the prime minister is elected by his peers, that is, by parliamentarians.
- Parliamentary system works in the following way: all decisions of a country, projects, measures, in short, public administration in general pass through the Chamber (s).
- English parliamentaryism was created after the Glorious Revolution as a response to the absolute powers of the monarchs, who often overrode the decisions parliamentarians, even going so far as to close the Chambers on some occasions, when it was not they liked.
- Parliamentarianism in Brazil was a contradictory experience, considering that Emperor D. Pedro II was the one who nominated the prime minister and the latter nominated the parliamentarians — the complete opposite of parliamentarism. Therefore, it was called reverse parliamentarism.
- In the 1960s, Brazil had another experience with parliamentarism, with João Goulart president and Tancredo Neves prime minister. However, it was brief, as a popular plebiscite decided to return to the presidential political system.
Features of parliamentarianism
In parliamentarism, the parliamentarians, that is, representatives elected by the people in elections, are the ones who decide about all things of a country. In this type of government, the relationship between the Executive and Legislative branches works with the former subordinate to the latter.
O prime minister is head of government, not state, which means that public administration is not your duty, but Parliament's. By the way, who chooses the prime minister are other parliamentarians, and, depending on the relationship he maintains with his peers, he can remain in office for several years, and there is not, a priori, in most countries, a pre-established time for mandate. Likewise, if he does not maintain this good relationship, he can easily be removed from office.
Do not stop now... There's more after the publicity ;)
How does parliamentarism work?
In the case of countries that have kings or presidents, they are the heads of state. The prime minister is the head of the government. This government, in turn, can only make decisions based on the votes of the Chambers, where the deputies / parliamentarians are. Therefore, the legislative branch is that it holds great powers in this system of government.The head of state in parliamentarism has symbolic and ceremonial power, as a representation of state continuity.
Read too: National Congress — all about the seat of the Legislative Power of Brazil
english parliamentarism
O Parliamentaryism was born in 1688 in England, after the Glorious Revolution (responsible for the end of absolutism in England, and one of the parts of the English Revolution), limiting the absolute powers of the king and making him - and his ministers - dependent on Parliament.
This measure was taken because before, through the bicameral system (two chambers), representatives of the nobles (lords) and the bourgeoisie (commons) they voted on measures and projects, however, many times, the king ended up closing the Chambers when one of them, for example, did not it pleased. Thus, English parliamentarism was direct result of the English Revolution, which aimed to limit the power of an absolutist king.
Parliamentarianism in Brazil
In Brazil, the parliamentary political system emerged in the Empire, specifically between the end of the reign of D. Pedro I, who abdicated, and that of D. Pedro II, who was not yet old enough to rule. Thus, the regent governors organized themselves and elected a prime minister, aiming at the establishment of parliamentarism in the country.
Even after coming of age and able to reign, D. Pedro II followed the idea of parliamentarism so that the political tensions of the period would decrease, especially between the parties and the moderating power.
but the Brazilian parliamentarism turned out to be called “reverse parliamentarism”, because, if in England this system was the result of a revolution and served to reduce the king's powers, here, D. Pedro II was the one who appointed the prime minister. And more: instead of being elected by his peers, he himself chose who would compose the Parliament.
In this way, the Executive completely subordinated the Legislature, and not the other way around, as is typical in such a system of government. Reverse parliamentarism only ended with the republican Constitution of 1891.
In contemporary times, in 1961, João Goulart, president involved in successive political crises, governed with Tancredo Neves as prime minister after a vote in the National Congress that approved parliamentarism. However, there was a plebiscite in 1963, and the majority of the population voted for the return of the presidential regime.
Countries that adopt parliamentarism
The countries that adopt parliamentarism today are:
- Germany;
- Armenia;
- Australia;
- Belgium;
- Canada;
- Spain;
- Netherlands;
- England;
- Italy;
- Portugal;
- Norway;
- Finland;
- Iceland;
- Japan;
- India;
- Thailand;
- China Popular Republic;
- Greece;
- Estonia;
- Egypt;
- Israel;
- Poland;
- Serbia;
- Türkiye;
- Sweden.
What are the differences between parliamentarism and presidentialism?
As we have seen, in parliamentarism, the head of the executive branch is the prime minister; in presidentialism, it is the president. The first is elected by their own peers, the parliamentarians, and the second, by direct vote of citizens.. In presidentialism, the president, therefore, accumulates the positions of head of state and head of government.. To learn more about presidentialism, click here.
image credits
[1] R.M. Nunes / Shutterstock
Sources
KEINERT, Ruben Cesar. What is Parliamentary. São Paulo: Editora Brasiliense, 1993.
LACERDA, Alan Daniel Freire. Systems of government: organizing the relationship between executive and legislative. Curitiba: Appris Editora, 2016.
CAPITAL CARD. How does parliamentarism work? Available in: https://www.cartacapital.com.br/carta-explica/como-funciona-o-parlamentarismo/.
By Mariana de Oliveira Lopes Barbosa
History teacher
Click here to understand what democracy is, its origin, its different types and examples and how it has been put into practice in Brazil.
Click here to understand what forms of government are and how they are organized in relation to the exercise of power.
Find out how Impeachment was conceived and how it is treated today in presidentialism and parliamentaryism.
The political strategy that maintained the political centralization that marked the entire monarchical period.
Access this text and learn more details about what the Legislative Power is. See who your representatives are and how they are chosen.
Click to learn more about presidentialism. Understand what this government system is, its characteristics and how it is organized in Brazil.
Click here for the definition of government regime, the difference between regime and form of government, and types of government regime.
