POG 100: Introduction to Politics and

Governance, Section 1/2/3/4

Fall 2007

October 30 2007
 October 30 2007
• Dimensions of Governance
• Sub-National government
• The Modern State and the infrastructure of
governance
– Constitutions
– Legislature
– Executive branch and Bureaucracy
– Judiciary
• Film: Canadians in the Global Economy
 Sub-National Government
Under a federal system you have a level of
government between the local government and the
national government. This model is often referred to
as the mixed system of government and involves a
division of jurisdictional powers - Canada a good
example as is the United States of America

• Provinces
• States
• Territories
Sub-National or regional governments

• State Power or authority is decentralized into smaller units of

government
• Derive power from the constitution - confederation (1867)
• Parliamentary government under West Minister model
• Elected Premiers and appointed Lieutenant Governors
representing the Crown
• Provincial Assemblies
• Members of provincial parliaments (MPPs) or members of
legislative Assemblies (MLAs)
• Members of National Assembly (MNA) in Quebec
The Modern State
 States
• Key functions:
– Sovereign authority - the central political
authority, the arena of politics and source
of Identity
– Institution responsible for organizing
decision-making and its implementation
– Guarantor of security for the people within
– Social protection and social cohesion
Origins of the Modern State
Types of states
Federal and Unitary Systems
Division of Powers
Why Federalism?
 Constitutional orders

rule of law
Constitutions
 Constitutional reform

flexible

amending formula
Functions of Modern States
Four key functions and the related institutions

• Legislative - Parliament / Representative

assembly
• Executive - President or Chancellor or Prime
Minister
• Administrative - Civil (Public) Service or
Bureaucracy
• Judicial - Judiciary
Legislatives (Indirect Democracy)

House of Commons/Legislature Senate

Bicameral (two legislative bodies) or Unicameral (one House)

Question period
 Executive

Ministerial Responsibility
 Civil Service (Bureaucracy)

Public Administration
regulatory
Judiciary
 Some key questions
• Which system is better, the parliamentary or
presidential system and why?
• Are today’s legislatures simply rubber stamps for the
decisions made by the heads of governments and
their Cabinets?
• Are representative institutions truly represent the
ideological, gender, ethnicity, race, sexual diversity of
the population?
• Is the bureaucracy the real power behind the throne?
• Why has there been so much debate about a
democratic deficit?