Separaration of Powers

Political theorists as far back as Aristotle had discussed the merits of various forms of government. The point had been made over and over again that to have all governmental authority vested in a single person or organization is to make it easy for despots to seize power. The more a society and government aspires to democracy, broad-based suffrage, and respect for individual rights, the more it would need to disperse power over a number of institutions and officials.

The theory was clear, but finding a practical way to apply it was not obvious. Congress under the Articles of Confederation had those aspirations, but found that the way it was attempting to disperse power instead produced paralysis. In fact, the American experience with the Confederation Congress gave the fledgling United States a set of positive reasons for wanting separation of powers, to go along with the negative reasons derived from colonial experience under the British Parliamentary system.

There had once been a separation and balance of powers in the British system, at least for the upper classes. As long as the monarch and the House of Lords still had independent power and authority, they were able to counterbalance the House of C

. . .
becomes the head of government. The Prime MinisterÆs cabinet functions essentially as the standing Executive Committee of the Parliament. It is structurally impossible for the Prime Minister to have one policy and Parliament another. If a majority of members of Parliament disagree with the Prime MinisterÆs decisions, a vote of no confidence will immediately remove the Prime Minister from office and begin the process of setting up a new government, that is, a new Executive Committee. The British Parliament thus cannot be in a state of deadlock such as sometimes seems to paralyze the American government when the Democrats control Congress and the Republicans have the Presidency, or vice versa. However, there is also nothing in the British system to keep Parliament from pursuing a disastrous policy, as it has in Northern Ireland, whenever its members are overcome by mob psychology. The unicameral Congress created by the Articles of Confederation resembled the British Parliament in not separating the legislative and executive powers. There was supposed to be a balance of power between the interests of the states represented in Congress, as well as between the state governments and the national government. However, what there
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Confederation Congress, British Parliament, Declaration Independence, President Premier, America Political, Hanover Parliament, York Collier, Prime Minister, Glorious Revolution, British Parliamentary, separation powers, british system, majority party, american government, parliamentary system, checks balances, articles confederation, prime minister, confederation congress, american system, american historical documents, documents 1000-1904 harvard, 1000-1904 harvard classics, historical documents 1000-1904, ed american historical,
Approximate Word count = 1703
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)