This painstaking approach is a hallmark of the work of the Constitution Unit
Authors: Robert Hazell & Ben Yong
Publisher: Hart Publishing (June 2012)
ISBN: 9781849463102
Price: £19.95
Over the last 250 years, we have seen the evolution of Parliamentary democracy in various forms in the developed and developing world. Superficially, these systems have much in common, but there are also some striking differences. A key issue is effectiveness. The role of government is to act on behalf of citizens collectively to achieve objectives which they cannot hope to achieve, acting individually. But for government to fulfil this purpose requires it to be effective. At the same time there have to be appropriate constraints guaranteeing individual liberty and public participation. For this we rely on legislators and judges.
In some democracies, Parliamentary coalitions are traditional, although this does not necessarily mean that Parliament is unable to subject government to proper control. In other democracies such as our own, coalitions have occurred relatively rarely, though the majority party has not necessarily found it easy to carry through
