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IPOL Block 2 Summary
IPOL summary Block 2, Lectures 13-24
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INTRODUCTION TO POLITICAL SCIENCELECTURE 1
Particular democratic regimes: the United States and the European Union
The US:
Executive power: President
Legislative power: Congress (House of Representatives and Senate)
Judiciary power: Supreme Court
➔ System of checks and balances overlooking this division of power
First constitution of the US in 1787, mentioning:
The separation of power between the three branches: Trias Politica
The characteristics of federalism and its competences
Better representation of the people
+ Bill of Rights in 1789, with the first 10 amendments about civic liberties like religion,
speech, associations, etc.
James Madison: 'Father of the Constitution', defended the limiting execution of power by the
majority, made possible through:
The separation of powers
Federalism
Checks and balances
Indirect elections
Trias Politica in the US
Executive:
President and its staff
Head of state also head of government, implementing federal laws
President: veto power over new legislative proposals
➔ Veto that can be overruled by a 'pocket veto' of 2/3 of the Congress
● Allowed to negotiate international treaties
● Commander in chief over troop assignments that last for less than 60 days
● Can also put a declaration of decrees in power: state of emergency for example
● Also, pardon power for people convicted of federal crimes
● Indirectly elected: relatively big importance of the small and swing states
➔ The winner of the election does not necessarily have to be in line with the popular vote
because of the systems of the electoral colleges: people cast their votes on members on their
state electoral college, who then themselves cast direct votes for the president
● 2 terms maximum for the president
,However, can easily drift to some monarchical tendencies:
Executive power even more and more increased: determines the policy agenda of party
members in the Congress
+ with the veto power over the legislative branches
➔ Really easy for the president to control the policy-making
● A declaration of war need to be proposed to the Congress before being publicly announced:
however, Clinton, Bush and Obama all violated this rule
Legislative:
Congress, divided between the House of Representatives and the Senate
➔ Two equal partners
● House of Representatives:
➔ 435 members chosen by district for a term of 2 years
➔ Influence revenues and tax revenues + exclusive power to impeach the president
● Senate:
➔ 100 members for a term of 6 years
➔ Elections every 2 years, with two senators by state
➔ Powers:
➢ Take care of the impeachment trial of the president
➢ Accept presidential nominees
➢ Ratify treaties
● Both the Senate and the House responsible for the declaration of war, the oversight on the
executive branch and the control over the budget
● Weak role of political parties during the permanent elections campaigns of the members of
the Congress
● Strong role of parliamentary committees, of great matter for lobbyists
● Formal charges of impeachment made by the House of Representatives and the trial by the
Senate
➔ Happened to Johnson, Nixon and Clinton
Judiciary:
Judges of the Supreme Court named by both the President and the Congress (bi-
partisanship)
9 judges, including 1 chief, appointed for life except for when they step down, go with
pension or are impeached
➔ When appointed by the president, lifelong legacy
● Increased polarisation of the appointment procedure of the court
● Powers of the court:
➔ Constitutional review of laws
➔ Can trial its own members
➔ In charge of the interpretation and applicability of the created and existing laws
American political culture:
Based on liberal individualism and economic independence
Formally: care for equality of opportunity, such as high school for allocation
In reality, unequal levels life chances, with unequal levels of high school for instance
High level of political activism, particularly for the higher educated and richer people
Low levels of turnout for the lower educated and richer citizens
High level of inequality
, Great importance of religion:
➔ 90% of the citizens says to be religious and 50% of them are churchgoing
➔ Strong role under the Christian-right amongst the Republicans
➔ Increasing appeal to religion among republican candidate for presidency and other high-
level politicians
American political parties
1824: Democrats
1854: Republicans
Broad ideological platform
Weak as organisations, mostly a matter of individuals and networks
No formal party membership, people need to register for closed party primaries
Candidacy for office (president, representative, senator) requires a high campaign budget
➔ Great importance of fundraising
● Lot of societal polarisation:
➔ Progressive versus conservative media
➔ Red states versus the blue states
➔ etc.
➢ Very segmented political discourse
Weakening of the state of the Madisonian democracy nowadays:
Balance of power undermined by increasing presidential power over war, veto, decrees and
the agenda
Separation of powers undermined by power sharing over war, budget and the agenda
➔ Risk of a government shutdown if the houses are divided
● Fewer indirect elections for the Senate
● Increasing societal and political polarisation
● Large and increasing inequality in the country
The EU:
Multiple member states of the European continent
No real principles, but core themes
Intergovernmentalist and supra-governmentalist
Power sharing, rather than power separation
➔ Both horizontal and vertical
➔ Theoretical model, no institutional design but rather neo-functionalist spill-over:
➢ Theory of regional integration in which the importance of nationalism and national state will
decline in the light of a central supranational state
➢ Increased by the spillover phenomenon: mechanism by which integration in one area creates
the conditions and incentives for integration in another related policy area (the first point
raised above).
➢ In the context of early European integration it was argued that cooperation in core sectors
such as coal and steel (while beneficial) could not be fully achieved without also integrating
in other sectors, such as transport for example, that were central to the integration of coal
and steel
● Community model, with multi-level governance
● Hybrid and polycentric
, Long history of important treaties shaping the Union:
1951: ECSC
➔ Organisation of 6 countries created after the WW2 to regulate industrial production under a
centralised authority
● 1958: EEC with the Rome treaty
➔ Regional organisation which aimed to bring about economic integration among its member
states
● 1965: Merger treaty in Brussels
➔ Combined the executive bodies of the ECSC, Euratom and EEC
● 1986: Single European Act with the Luxembourg Treaty
➔ Creation of a single market
● 1992: Maastricht Treaty
➔ Further European integration and creation of the single European currency and Union
● 1998: Amsterdam Treaty
➔ Institutional reform of the Union: national government devolved power to the European
parliament and included legislating power on immigration and on civil and criminal law
● 2005: Nice Treaty
➔ Reform of the institutional structure of the Union to withstand eastward expansion, but
failed.
➔ Also, aim to create a common Constitution, but failed as well.
● 2007: Lisbon Treaty
➔ Formalisation of the subsidiarity of member states: functions which subordinate or local
organisations perform effectively belong more properly to them than to a dominant central
organisation
➔ Formalisation of the competences of the European parliament: to pass a bill or a law in the
European Parliament, 55% of the countries have to be in favour of it and these 55% of
countries should represent 65% percent of the population
Main institutions of the European Union
The European Council
➔ Core institution of the EU
➔ In charge of any grand decision being made
➔ Consists of the prime ministers of all member countries
● The Council of Ministers
➔ Also a core institution
➔ Responsible for many grand decisions
➔ National ministers meet to adopt law and coordinate policy: therefore, the Council defends
the interests of the individual countries
➔ Responsible for the internal market and international and foreign affairs, which is a
supranational task
● The European Committee
➔ Created in 1965 and made of 28 delegates, one for every member state
➔ Right of initiative
➔ Supervise the implementation of laws
➔ Have control over the finances
➔ Collectively represent the interest of the EU
● The European Parliament
➔ Directly elected parliament
➔ Legislative power of the EU
➔ Made of 751 members directly elected every five years
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