Parliamentary Democracy: Is There a Perfect Model?This title was first published in 2001. With the collapse of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe, the legitimacy of one-party, and often one-person rule in other parts of the world has been fundamentally challenged. It appears that for the first time parliamentary democracy has become the universally accepted model to adopt or to be perfected. Newer democracies have started to build the institutions and capacity necessary to sustain democracy, while established democracies continue to refine their democracy, sometimes introducing full-scale reforms. This book examines whether elements of the perfect democracy can be identified and how democratic structures and practices can be improved. |
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acceptable accountability achieved administrative argued Assembly Australian Senate bills candidates Caribbean cent citizens civil servants civil service Commission Commonwealth Parliamentary Association competence congressional congressional system constitution cultural debate decisions democratic deputy developing countries direct democracy economic effective election electoral roll ensure ethnic example executive federal systems free and fair freedom global groups House of Commons House of Representatives important increase independent individual legislators institutions interests intergovernmental issues jurisdictions leaders legislature level of government limited Maastricht Treaty majority Member of Parliament multi-party democracy national Parliaments nominated opposition parliamentary committees parliamentary democracy parliamentary systems participation party discipline political parties population president prime minister procedures programmes proposals provincial referenda referendum representation requires responsible result role rules seats Sejm Senate social Speaker subnational transparency Trinidad and Tobago turnout Uganda United Kingdom vote voters whip women