Government Formation and Parliamentary Democracy

This book is about the making and breaking of governments in parliamentary democracies. The essence of parliamentary democracy is the accountability of the government (or cabinet or executive or administration) to the legislature. In most working parliamentary democracies, this relationship is enshrined in a constitutional provision that the government must retain the support of a majority of legislators, tested in a legislative motion of confidence (or no confidence) in the executive. A government that loses such a vote is defeated and obliged to resign. Although formal mechanisms for installing new governments differ considerably between countries, a government, however installed, is immediately exposed in the legislature to a potential vote of no confidence. It is the ability of the executive to win this vote and thus maintain the confidence of the legislature that is the universal acid test of government viability in a parliamentary democracy.

Even though the executive is responsible in this sense to the legislature, the cabinet and its ministers nevertheless retain wide-ranging power to govern the country as long as they remain in office. This power comprises both effective political control over the administrative departments of state and a firm grip on the day-to-day activities of the legislature. Apart from the opposition's ability to seek dismissal of an administration by proposing a motion of no confidence, it is difficult in most parliamentary democracies for anyone outside the executive to have a significant impact on the process of legislation.