Democratic government is when the people of a country have the authority to select the governing legislators of the country. Under a democratic government system, the citizens will be given the right to participate in elections and vote for the representatives that they want. And so these elected government representatives will work on behalf of its citizens. Two types of democracies are direct and representative democracies. Direct democracy is when the representatives allow their citizens to involve in decision making and the decisions will be taken based on the votes that people give to the government. For example, Switzerland can be seen as a country that practices direct democracy, here the Switzerland citizens will have more power to express their opinions towards the decisions taken by the parliament and the citizens take active participation in using their votes in elections. Representative democracy is when the elected persons represent a separate group of people. For example, the United States can be seen as a country that has representative democracy within its system. Here, the citizens will vote in elections for the government officials they prefer and these elected officials will represent the citizen's opinions and concerns in the government.
Understanding the Separation of Powers in a Democratic System
Under a democratic government, Separation of power refers to the division of a state's government into different branches, where each branch shares differentiated responsibilities and independent powers and so the powers of one branch will not conflict with the other. So rather than centralizing the government authorities, these separated branches will be able to carry out government work much more efficiently. Namely, these 3 branches are the legislative, judiciary, and executive branches.
The most common example of separation of power is the United States. Here the US government has the judicial, executive, and legislative branches. So the powers appointed to these three branches are known as the constitution. So the executive branch will nominate judges, the legislative branch confirms the nominations and the judiciary deals with the constitutional laws passed by the legislature.
The Role and Importance of the Executive Branch
The executive branch is headed by the president, who is elected by the votes of its citizens, the vice president, cabinet ministers, and other institutional agencies may work with the president in the executive branch., the executive branch will execute the laws given by the legislature and interpreted by the judiciary. Also under the executive branch, the president has the power to appoint federal judges, and accept or reject a law after a law has been passed by the legislature. The executive branch will also focus on the country's development by maintaining financial and administrative policies within the country, and will establish foreign relations with other countries through signing treaties between counties. Thus the importance of the executive branch is that it is responsible for executing the correct law within the state as the president is responsible for its citizen's vote and must be able to make proper decisions on behalf of its citizens who elected the president to the position.
Legislative Branch: Structure and Responsibilities
The legislative branch of the government is made up of the house and the senate which is collectively known as congress. The members of the legislature are known as legislators and they are appointed directly or indirectly by an election these legislators represent an entire population or particular groups within a state. The legislator has certain functions like making laws, maintaining the government budget, control over the executive, and making amendments to the constitution. Under a democratic government, the members of the executive branch are also selected by the legislative members. For example, in the United States of America, Congress has two main parts the house of representatives and the senate, the members of the senate and house of representatives are voted by the American citizens in each state. Thus the legislature can either be bicameral, which is an assembly with only one legislative chamber such as in Finland and Hungary. And the other is Unicameral which is an assembly of two legislative chambers such as in France and the USA.
The Judiciary: Interpreting and Applying the Law
The judiciary is made up of courts, the supreme court, the magistrate, and the municipal courts. The judicial branch has the power to interpret, defend and apply the laws in legal cases. The state judges in the judicial branch are elected by the citizens rather than being appointed. The main body of the judiciary is the supreme court. The main aim of the supreme court is to interpret the constitution. The supreme court has more power in taking decisions and once a decision has been taken by the supreme court no external party can appeal the supreme court's decision. The judicial system is important for a government because it provides checks and balances that a whole system works. Checks and balances refer to the principle of government under which separate powers are empowered to prevent actions by other branches and which are included to share power. In the United States of America, the judiciary branch does not only protect the law and the rights which are given by the constitution and the bill of rights given to its citizens, but the judiciary also makes sure that all the other government branches are working in their responsibilities towards the people of the States.
Highly democratic countries in the world like Switzerland and Canada tend to be more successful democratic governments because they consider more about separation of power and maintain equal separation of power between each branch and focus on the rights and freedom given to its citizens which helps these governments to be more successful from being a democracy.
The main reason why separation of power is needed is that it provides a system of checks and balances. These checks ensure that different branches are accountable to each other and this divides the power between each government branch. And the balance aims to ensure that no government individual or group has complete power or authority. So the main aim of why a democratic government practices separation of power is to prevent the abuse of power. This also helps the government to increase its efficiency, when powers and responsibilities are divided into each branch, it helps each branch to work more efficiently and focused on their responsibilities. Moreover, when the government power is distributed among each branch this gives limited power to each branch which helps to prevent the rise of dictatorship. And also ensures judicial independence within the government, so when decisions are taken from the judiciary, the judiciary must be independent and should not interfere with the judicial branch decisions thus, the existence of separation of power helps the government to ensure the independence of the judiciary and helps to perform its functions.
Challenges and Inefficiencies in the Separation of Powers
But the use of separation of power has certain inefficiencies within the government. The use of separation of power has a risk of creating jealousy, confusion, and conflicts among each branch thus this may create inefficiencies between them when decisions are taken and so this may affect effective decision makings within the state. Also, inequality of power between each branch can also happen. An American researcher, Stuart Anderson stated that the US constitutional powers were divided to make effective maximum use of their separation to prevent deadlocks and not to create them. And although the US constitution gives the required ownership and responsibilities to the national legislative, judiciary, and executive authorities, there is no separation of power practiced in other national constitutions like Croatia, the Dominican Republic, and Turkey.
And in countries like Greece and Tunisia, the people tend to be more dissatisfied with the way that democracy is being handled within the government. This may happen due to the attitude that elected officials have towards their citizens and even after being elected if the representatives do not represent their citizens or didn't work on behalf of their citizens the people become dissatisfied. Moreover, political corruption between the political parties and political instability within the government, and if there are no improvements even after elections citizens become more dissatisfied with the democratic government system.
Thus, the separation of power is not the only cornerstone that makes up a democratic government. According to the American political scientist Larry Diamond, democracy consists of four key elements a political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections, the active participation of the people as citizens in politics and civil life, and the protection of human rights of all the citizens with the rule of law. And so, as a democratic government, the government must be able to protect and ensure that these elements are taken place within the government. So a democratic government must be able to give its citizens the total freedom to decide their representatives and the right to participate in elections and present their votes. And also its citizens must be allowed to participate themselves in the government's decision makings and so the citizens' ideas and opinions must be considered by the government when the decisions are taken. Further, it's the government's responsibility to protect its citizens so they must be able to enforce laws that will protect its citizens from unfair discrimination within the state.
Lastly, the American researcher Stuart Anderson states that a “workable” government requires human qualities that go beyond the normal governmental structure, and so the government needs to have more cooperation, deference, and, mutual from its people within the government.
Conclusion: Beyond Separation of Powers in Democratic Governance
Thus, a democratic government is known as “rule by people” where people can take part in the decision-making of the community. And so the authority and the powers of a democratic government will be divided into executive, legislative, and judiciary branches which is known as the separation of power within the system. Separation of power is a cornerstone of a democratic government as it divides the centralized authority of the government and helps the government in creating and maintaining effective management within the state also with the help of checks and balances the government can prevent abuse of power and maintain a stable level of democracy within the state. But the separation of power is not the only cornerstone of a democratic government thus the citizens of the state, and the political and social freedom given to the citizens also matter for a democratic government. And as a democratic government, its citizens have a major role to play within the government than the authorities who are in charge of the executive, judicial and legislative branches because even the authorities who are in charge of these branches represent the citizens and work on behalf of its people so as similar to the separation of power these citizens are also a cornerstone of the democratic government.
References
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