bicameralism

Information about bicameralism

This article is about bicameralism in government. For the psychological theory, see Bicameralism (psychology).


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In government, bicameralism (bi + Latin camera, chamber) is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed government. Bicameral legislatures tend to require a concurrent majority to pass legislation.

Theory

Although the ideas on which bicameralism is based can be traced back to the theories developed in Ancient Sumer and later ancient Greece, ancient India, and Rome, recognizable bicameral institutions first arose in medieval Europe where they were associated with separate representation of different estates of the realm.

The Founding Fathers of the United States eschewed any notion of separate representation for aristocracy, but they accepted the prevailing disposition towards bicameralism. However, as part of the Great Compromise between large states and small states, they invented a new rationale for bicameralism in which the upper house would have states represented equally and the lower house would have them represented by population.

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The bicameral legislature of the United States is housed in a capitol building with two wings. The north wing houses the Senate while the south wing houses the House of Representatives.


In subsequent constitution making, federal states have often adopted bicameralism, and the solution remains popular when regional differences or sensitivities require more explicit representation, with the second chamber representing the constituent states. Nevertheless, the older justification for second chambers — providing opportunities for second thoughts about legislation — has survived. A trend towards unicameralism in the 20th century appears now to have been halted.

Growing awareness of the complexity of the notion of representation and the multifunctional nature of modern legislatures may be affording incipient new rationales for second chambers, though these do generally remain contested institutions in ways that first chambers are not. An example of political controversy regarding a second chamber has been the debate over the powers of the Canadian Senate.

The relationship between the two chambers varies; in some cases, they have equal power, while in others, one chamber is clearly superior in its powers. The first tends to be the case in federal systems and those with presidential governments. The latter tends to be the case in unitary states with parliamentary systems.

Some political scientists believe that bicameralism makes meaningful political reforms more difficult to achieve and increases the risk of deadlock (particularly in cases where both chambers have similar powers). Others argue strongly for the merits of the 'checks and balances' provided by the bicameral model, which they believe helps prevent the passage into law of ill-considered legislation.

Types

Federalism

Some countries, such as Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States link their bicameral systems to their federal political structure.

In the United States, Australia, Mexico and Brazil, for example, each state is given the same number of seats in the legislature's upper house. This takes no account of population differences between states — it is designed to ensure that smaller states are not overshadowed by more populous ones. (In the United States, the deal that ensured this arrangement is known as the Connecticut Compromise.) In the lower houses of each country, these provisions do not apply, and seats are allocated based purely on population. The bicameral system, therefore, is a method of combining the principle of democratic equality with the principle of federalism — all citizens are equal in the lower houses, while all states are equal in the upper houses.

In Canada, the country as a whole is divided into a number of Senate Divisions, each with a different number of Senators, based on a number of factors. These Divisions are Quebec, Ontario, Western Provinces, and the Maritimes, each with 24 Senators, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, each with 1 Senator, and Newfoundland and Labrador has 6 Senators, making for a total of 105 Senators.

In the German, Indian, and Pakistani systems, the upper houses (the Bundesrat, the Rajya Sabha, and the Pakistani Senate respectively) are even more closely linked with the federal system, being appointed or elected directly by the governments of each German Bundesland, Indian State, or Pakistani Province. (This was also the case in the United States before the 17th Amendment.)

There are also instances of bicameralism in countries that are not federations, but which have upper houses with representation on a territorial basis. For example in South Africa, the National Council of Provinces (and before 1997, the Senate) has its members chosen by each Province's legislature.

In Spain the Spanish Senate functions as a de facto territorial-based upper house, and there has been some pressure from the Autonomous Communities to reform it into a strictly territorial chamber.

Aristocratic

In a few countries, bicameralism involves the juxtaposition of democratic and aristocratic elements.

The best known example is the British House of Lords, which includes a number of hereditary peers. The House of Lords represents a vestige of the aristocratic system which once predominated in British politics, while the other house, the House of Commons, is entirely elected. Over the years, there have been proposals to reform the House of Lords, some of which have been at least partly successful — the House of Lords Act 1999 limited the number of hereditary peers (as opposed to life peers, appointed by the government) to 92, down from around 700. The ability of the House of Lords to block legislation is curtailed by the Parliament Act. Further reform of the Lords is planned; said reform would almost certainly include the removal of the remaining hereditary peers.

Another example of aristocratic bicameralism was the Japanese House of Peers, abolished after World War II and replaced with the present House of Councillors.

Unitary states

Many bicameral systems are not connected with either federalism or an aristocracy, however. Japan, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Philippines, the Czech Republic, the Republic of Ireland and Romania are examples of bicameral systems existing in unitary states. In countries such as these, the upper house generally exists solely for the purpose of scrutinising and possibly vetoing the decisions of the lower house.

In some of these countries, the upper house is indirectly elected. Members of France's Senate, Ireland's Seanad Éireann are chosen by electoral colleges consisting of members of the lower house, local councillors, the Taoiseach, and graduates of selected universities, while the Netherlands' First Chamber is chosen by members of provincial assemblies.

Subnational entities

In some countries with federal systems, individual states (like those of the United States and Australia) may also have bicameral legislatures. Only two such states, Nebraska in the US and Queensland in Australia, have adopted unicameral systems.

However, in early United States history, unicameral state legislatures were not totally uncommon: even though twelve of the original thirteen States (Pennsylvania being the only exception) had a bicameral legislature at the time of the Philadelphia Convention, some of the new States didn't immediately adopt such system. It was not until 1836, for example, that Vermont finally created a Senate.

During the 1930s, the Legislature of the State of Nebraska was reduced from bicameral to unicameral with the 43 members that once comprised that state's Senate. One of the arguments used to sell the idea at the time to Nebraska voters was that by adopting a unicameral system, the perceived evils of the "conference committee" process would be eliminated.

A conference committee is appointed when the two chambers cannot agree on the same wording of a proposal, and consists of a small number of legislators from each chamber. This tends to place much power in the hands of only a small number of legislators. Whatever legislation, if any, the conference committee finalizes must then be approved in an unamendable "take-it-or-leave-it" manner by both chambers.

During his term as Governor of the State of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura proposed converting the Minnesotan legislature to a single chamber with proportional representation, as a reform that he felt would solve many legislative difficulties and impinge upon legislative corruption. In his book on political issues, Do I Stand Alone?, Ventura argued that bicameral legislatures for provincial and local areas were excessive and unnecessary, and discussed unicameralism as a reform that could address many legislative and budgetary problems for states.

In Australian states the lower house was traditionally elected based on the one-vote-one-value principle, whereas the upper house was partially appointed and elected, with a bias towards country voters. In Queensland, the appointed upper house was abolished in 1922, while New South Wales there were similar attempts at abolition, before the upper house was reformed in the 1970s to provide for direct election. Nowadays, the upper house is elected using proportional voting and the lower house through preferential voting, except in Tasmania, where proportional voting is used for the lower house, and preferential voting for the upper house.

Arab political reform

A 2005 report on democratic reform in the Arab world by the US Council on Foreign Relations co-sponsored by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright urged Arab states to adopt bicameralism, with upper chambers appointed on a 'specialised basis'. The Council claimed that this would protect against the 'tyranny of the majority', expressing concerns that without a system of checks and balances extremists would use the single chamber parliaments to restrict the rights of minority groups.

In 2002, Bahrain adopted a bicameral system with an elected lower chamber and an appointed upper house. This led to a boycott of parliamentary elections that year by the Al Wefaq party, who said that the government would use the upper house to veto their plans. Many secular critics of bicameralism were won round to its benefits in 2005, after many MPs in the lower house voted for the introduction of so-called 'morality police'.

Examples

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     Nations with bicameral legislatures.     Nations with unicameral legislatures.     No legislature.

See also

bicameralism is a controversial theory which argues that the human brain once assumed a state known as a bicameral mind in which cognitive functions are divided between one part of the brain which appears to be "speaking," and a second part which listens and obeys.
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A legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws.

Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings.
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Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions. Although the term is generally applied to behavior within civil governments, politics is observed in all human group interactions, including corporate, academic, and religious
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A legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws.

Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings.
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This is a list of legislatures by country, whether parliamentary or congressional, that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives with the power to legislate. In the lists below all entities included in the list of countries are included.
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parliament is a legislature, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system modelled after that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement, the action of parler (to speak): a parlement
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A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its
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Parliamentary group and parliamentary party are terms used to refer to the representation of a political party or electoral fusion of parties in a legislative assembly such as a parliament or in a city council.
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The chairperson of a fraction is in parliamentary system with strong party discipline an influential political post. When the party is in opposition or a minor partner in a governing coalition he or she is often the political leader of a party and often the main media contact.
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In politics, a congress ("a gathering of people") is the name of the main legislative body in a state that operates under a congressional system of government. In non-political usage congress is a term applied to a large national or international grouping of people meeting together
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worldwide view.


A Congressman or Congresswoman is a politician who is a member of a Congress. In countries with a parliament rather than a congress, MP (Member of Parliament) is used instead; however, this can be adapted (see below).
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Unicameralism is the practice of having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Many countries with unicameral legislatures are often small and homogeneous unitary states and consider an upper house or second chamber unnecessary.
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Tricameralism is the practice of having three legislative or parliamentary chambers. It is contrasted to unicameralism and bicameralism, both of which are far more common.
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Many parliaments or other legislatures consist of two chambers: an elected lower house, and an upper house or Senate which may be appointed or elected by a different mechanism from the lower house. This style of two houses is called bicameral.
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upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.

Possible specific characteristics

An upper house is usually distinct from the lower house in at least one of the following respects:

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senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. There have been many such bodies in history, the first of which was the Roman Senate.

Overview

The word senate is derived from the Latin word senatus
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lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.

Despite its theoretical position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power.
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red and orange—the former being constitutional monarchies where authority is vested in a parliament, and the latter being parliamentary republics whose parliaments are effectively supreme over a separate head of state.
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worldwide view of the subject.
Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page.
A city council is a form of local government, usually covering a city or other urban area, such as a town.
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councillor (Cllr or Clr for short) is a member of a council (such as a city council), particularly in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other parts of the Commonwealth, as well as in the Republic of Ireland.
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government is a body that has the power to make and the authority to enforce rules and laws within a civil, corporate, religious, academic, or other organization or group.[1]
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Many parliaments or other legislatures consist of two chambers: an elected lower house, and an upper house or Senate which may be appointed or elected by a different mechanism from the lower house. This style of two houses is called bicameral.
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A legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws.

Legislatures are known by many names, the most common being parliament and congress, although these terms also have more specific meanings.
..... Click the link for more information.
Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.
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Mixed government, also known as a mixed constitution, is a form of government that integrated facets of democracy, oligarchy, and monarchy. Mixed government means that there are some issues (often defined in a constitution) where the state is governed by the majority of the
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Concurrent majority refers in general to the concept of preventing majorities from oppressing minorities by allowing various minority groups veto power over laws. The most vocal proponents of the theory have tended to be minority groups, such as farmers in an industrial society, or
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The term ancient Greece refers to the periods of Greek history in Classical Antiquity, lasting ca. 750 BC[1] (the archaic period) to 146 BC (the Roman conquest). It is generally considered to be the seminal culture which provided the foundation of Western Civilization.
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History of India begins with the Indus Valley Civilization, which flourished in the north-western part of the Indian subcontinent from 3300 to 1700 BCE. This Bronze Age civilization was followed by the Iron Age Vedic period, which witnessed the rise of major kingdoms known as the
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Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea.
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Founding Fathers of the United States, also known as the Fathers of Our Country, the Forefathers, Framers of the Constitution or the Founders, are the political leaders who signed the Declaration of Independence or the United States Constitution, or
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