Parliamentary democracies
Four course countries that have parliamentary democracies
What are the United Kingdom, India, Germany, and Japan?
Four course countries that have presidential democracies
What are the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, and Nigeria?
The constitutional methods of removing chief executives in presidential and parliamentary democracies
What are impeachment and votes of no confidence?
the United Kingdom
What is a majoritarian democracy?
The U.S. and the UK have this type of party system.
What is a two-party system?
The names of the current head of government and governing party in the UK
Who are Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the Labour party?
The names of Brazil's current president and governing party
What are Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva and the Workers' Party (PT)?
This foundational principle of presidential democracies prevents cabinet members from holding legislative office at the same time.
What is separation of powers?
Parliamentary democracies with bicameral legislatures and frequent coalition governments, such as this course country, lean toward consensus democracy.
What is India?
Presidential democracies are more likely to have legislators who are not beholden to their parties which is known as this.
What are weak parties?
This type of cabinet was formed in India after the 2014 and 2019 elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi.
What is a single-party majority cabinet or government? (under the BJP or Bharatiya Janata Party)
In the U.S., executive orders and constitutional signing statements have become controversial because they are seen as attempts to expand executive power relative to this institution.
What is Congress?
Another name for multi-party cabinets, which have more horizontal accountability than single-party cabinets.
What are coalition governments?
Brazil's presidential democracy leans more toward consensus democracy than the U.S. because of this reason.
What is coalitional presidentialism which means that Brazil's president usually needs to get the support of several parties to pass laws and often forms cabinet governments to secure other parties' support for legislation.
Single-party majority cabinets or governments are more likely in this type of party system.
What is a two-party system?
In the UK, votes of no confidence are rare because of this reason.
What are single-party majority cabinets or governments? (In other words, the prime minister's party usually has a majority in the legislature.)
How presidents are elected in Brazil and how this is different in the U.S.
What are a two-round election (in Brazil) and a one-round election (in the U.S.)?
Separation of powers between Congress and the executive in the U.S. ensures horizontal accountability but also has contributed to this in recent years.
What is gridlock between parties in Congress and between the legislative and executive branches, which has resulted in fewer major pieces of legislation in recent years.
Since the 2024 elections, the U.S.'s consensus democracy leans more majoritarian because of this.
What is Republican control of the executive, the House of Representatives, and the Senate?
This is a consequence of Brazil's weak parties and very fragmented party system.
What is the high failure rate of presidential legislative proposals in the National Congress? Alternatively, what is extensive negotiation among legislators for each piece of legislation?
Two course countries with ceremonial heads of state selected by legislatures
What are India and Germany?
How provisional decrees (PDs) in Brazil give presidents the power to sidestep the National Congress
What is allowing the president to write legislation, which is usually a legislative power? (PDs last for 30 days unless the Congress accepts it as a permanent law.)
Two major differences between impeachment in presidential democracies and votes of no confidence in parliamentary democracies
What are (a) legislative supermajorities (impeachment) versus simple legislative majorities (votes of no confidence) and (b) abuse of power or legal infraction (impeachment) versus loss of popularity among legislators (vote of no confidence)
In the UK, this 1990s process creating regional assemblies in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland allowed regions more power to formulate education and health care policies and moved the country's democracy a bit more toward consensus democracy.
What is devolution?
In its first 30 years as an independent state (1947-1977), India had only 3 prime ministers; in its second 30 years (1977-2007), India had 12 prime ministers, only three of whom served full terms. The latter statement about 12 prime ministers not serving their full terms alludes to India's (a) post-1989 party system and (b) types of cabinets.
What are India's (a) multiparty system and (b) coalition governments?