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Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law [MPECCoL]

Parliamentary Systems

Rainer Grote

Content type:
Encyclopedia entries
Product:
Max Planck Encyclopedia of Comparative Constitutional Law [MPECCoL]
Article last updated:
September 2016

From: Oxford Constitutions (http://oxcon.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2021. All Rights Reserved.date: 09 May 2021

Subject(s):
Legislative independence — Legislative power — Legislative procedure — Parliamentary systems — Legislative accountability — Structure of the legislature — Monarchy

General Editors: Rainer Grote, Frauke Lachenmann, Rüdiger Wolfrum.
Managing Editor: Ana Harvey

1. The term ‘parliamentary system’ forms part of a dichotomy widely used in political science in order to categorize the main forms of democratic government. From this perspective, parliamentary systems are opposed to presidential systems as the other main form of democratic government (Lijphart 2). Based on the propositions first advanced by Douglas Verney, three major characteristics are retained by most authors as distinguishing features of parliamentary systems (Lijphart 2–5). First, the head of government in parliamentary systems (Prime Minister, President of...
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