Advantages Of Responsible Government

Responsible government and separation of powers are the two most widespread forms of democracy in the modern world. Responsible government was born in England and is now a regime that we have in Canada. First, it emerged to give more independence to the colonies, but later became fully independent from the Crown, except Crown 's formal duties. USA, on another hand is build on principle of separation of powers, to ensure freedom from England, tyranny or any kind of usurpation of power. In this paper I will argue that separation of powers is more democratic than responsible government, because in separation of powers model citizens have more influence on their government through electing most of the officials and it is easier to maintain democratic …show more content…
First, it is the only way for most of the citizens to influence political course of the state. Second, it is the only way to replace representatives if their not following the promises made to the voters. Voting shows the political course that majority of citizens wants to follow. However, it is worth mentioning that what wants the majority not always just. “In contemporary terms, we would distinguish between a decent democratic regime and tyranny of the majority. For us, democracy has come to mean rule by the majority that respects the rights of all individuals, including those who may be in a minority”(Course Kit pg.174). Thus, this limits the power of representatives who we choose by certain documents like Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada or the Constitution in the …show more content…
In responsible government model which is adopted by Canada, people vote only for the part of legislative branch which is a House of Commons. The other part of the Canadian legislative branch is the Senate which is appointed by the Prime-minister. Though, the Senate powers are limited, it is still worth mentioning that senators are appointed by life and can not be fired. Thus, if people are unhappy with the party and choose another one, the previous party might still have a majority seats in the Senate. Prime-minister who represents executive power is appointed by the Crown. However, in reality the leader of the party which won the majority of the seats in the House of Commons becomes the new Prime-minister and he answers to the House of Commons. “In a regime based on the principle of responsible government, the people 's role in the selection of the government is an indirect one” (Course Kit pg.108). In the USA which adopted separation of powers model, citizens vote for both parts of the legislative branch – the Senate and the House of Representatives. They also vote for the head of the government who is the head of the executive branch – the President. USA citizens also vote some officials in the judiciary