Assignment On Reference list | Sociology

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
Sociology
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

SOCIOLOGY1
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the parliamentary system of government vs. the
presidential system?
The parliamentary system can be defined as a democratic form of government when the political
partly that wins majority of the seats in the parliament or legislature during the federal election
forms a government1. In a parliamentary system, the majority party selects a leader as the prime
minister of the nation and the other high ranking members of the wining party make the cabinet.
Some of the major examples of countries that follow the parliamentary system of government are
India, Japan, Sweden and United Kingdom.
One the major strengths of the parliamentary system are that each of the branches of government
in a parliamentary system is governed by a system of checks an balances. This in turn reduces
the chances of one branch being able to overpower the others while pursing the legislation.
However, when it comes to weakness it can be said that unlike the presidential system, decision
making is slow in this system since a single bill have to pass through several stages in order to be
approved by the prime minister2.
When it comes to the presidential system of government, it can be defined as a form of the
government where the president is the chief executive and is elected directly by the residents of
the nation. The presidential system possess three branches namely the executive branch, the
legislative branch and the judiciary branch and each of the branches are constitutionally
independent from each other and no branch can dismiss as well as dissolve any other3.
1 Leonard, Allenna. "Viable system model of political parties." In Proceedings of the 59th annual meeting of the
ISSS-2015 Berlin, Germany, vol. 1, no. 1. 2016.
Mügge, Liza M., and Silvia Erzeel. "Double jeopardy or multiple advantage? Intersectionality and political
representation." Parliamentary Affairs 69, no. 3 (2016): 499-511.
2
3 Tosun, Gülgün Erdoğan. "Reconsidering the presidential system in Turkey." Insight Turkey 18, no. 4 (2016): 127-
142.

SOCIOLOGY2
Decisiveness as well as peed can be considered to be two major strengthen of the presidential
system. The presidential system provides the presidents with stronger constitutional power which
in turn allow them to spearhead reform as well as enact the change in a swift manner. A
presidential system like that of the United States is more democratic than the parliamentary
system since it allows the president to pass the power directly to the residents instead of making
it through several intermediaries. However, when it comes to weaknesses, a major weakness of
the presidential system is that it is slightly inclined towards authoritarianism4. Since a huge
amount of power has been given to the president, the mentioned system can quickly transforms
into an authoritarian regime in case circumstances permit.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of each system? On what value(s) should we
assess these systems, and why?
The major advantages of the parliamentary system are as follows:
1. The mentioned system possesses beneficial features for the nation that are ethically,
racially as well as ideologically divided.
2. The power is evenly spreader in the governmental structure
3. Less likely to have an authorization collapse
4. Prime minister possess higher focus on voting as well as its political ideas
The disadvantages of the parliamentary system are as follows
1. It encourages lower level of direct representation. The elected officials are often found to
be forced to compromise their stance to be included in the majority
4 Yilmaz, Battal. The Presidential System in Turkey: Opportunities and Obstacles. Springer, 2018.