ABSTRACT
Even a cursory study of national assemblies in democracies reveals that superficial similarities often mask profound differences in the distribution and exercise of authority, both within the assembly and v i s - a - v i s the executive power of government.1 The first-order distinction, of course, is between legislatures and parliaments: between assemblies that are constitutionally and often electorally independent of the executive and that compete with it for preeminence in a system of separated institutions sharing power, and assemblies that designate members of the executive, often from among the assembly's own members, that governs on behalf of and only with the continuing confidence of the assembly.
