ABSTRACT

In the previous chapter, we saw that executive power is always relevant in the study of governments: all functioning states have a significant role for the executive in carrying out the work of government. By contrast, the role of legislatures varies widely. At one extreme are powerless assemblies convened purely to offer legitimacy and to provide a show of support for the work of an authoritarian executive. At the other end are legislatures that are fully autonomous and that exercise considerable power within their sphere of influence. The U.S. Congress, the most powerful national legislature in the world, is the paradigmatic example of this category of legislature. In between these extremes are legislatures whose work is mostly consultative or technical, providing input and suggestions but deferring most actual decision making to the executive, whether a prime minister chosen from the legislature’s own ranks or a separately elected president.