Inter-Research And Studies (IRAS)

The informality of these procedures also reflects the political philosophy that underlies the entire presidential system of the government, especially in the United States of America (USA). The assumption is that the chances of tyranny or dictatorship are reduced insofar as legislature and executive (and judiciary) branches of the government are separated in terms of both institutions and personnel. In the USA, the principle of checks and balances (for instance, the presidents authority to veto legislation or senates' authority to approve or disapprove president's appointment) is actually corollary to the more fundamental principle of separation of powers. By distributing a part of the powers of each governmental branch to the other branches of government, the writers of the Constitution intended to provide each branch with the means of ensuring its constitutional integrity. The record of parliamentary government, however, makes it clear that the principle of separation of...

The presidential system of government tends to isolate the chief executive from the legislature and that the chief executive, if he chooses may in turn isolate himself from the people. Unlike the parliamentary system, presidential government is characterized by very few institutional channels for communication between the legislative and the executive branches. Much of the story of the constitutional development of presidential system hinges on the informal procedures that are established by successive administrations for bridging the communication gaps between the several branches of the government: private meetings between the president and the legislative leaders and the building of a network of personal loyalties between legislators and the administrators. Such informal liaisons are all the more important when one political party controls the presidency and another  (or a coalition of opposition parties) controls the legislature. Under these circumstances, policy making is...

(We had saw how the Peaceful Assembly Bill being bulldozed into the parliament and quickly approved with limited debates, next would be the Computing Professionals Bill. So, how effective is the role of the parliament in our nation today? Some say the Malaysian parliament today is a mere rubber-stamp as the executive overly dominates the policy making role. What is your view then?) How are laws being made and how are they made not only in terms of constitutional prescription or the unwritten conventions of the legislature but also in terms of the clash of interests inside and outside the legislature arena? How do the rules and procedures of the legislatures, its system of committees, sub committees, affect the substances of the legislative policy? How is the power distribution among legislators themselves? And how is influence over the legislative process related to party and committee membership, seniority and personal relationship with the chief executive and with other members of th...