Assess the Positive and Negative Aspects of the US Political Framework - Term Paper Example

Assess the Positive and Negative Aspects of the US Political Framework Based On the Separation of Powers Introduction The US Constitution divides powers between two distinct authorities, that is, the nations and the states.1 More so, the US political system is separated into three different institutions, including the legislative, executive and the judiciary. All these branches of the government play different role, for instance, the legislative arm is supposed to enact laws and provide funds need for government operations. The executive on the other hand implements and administers the enacted laws, while the judicial branch is responsible for interpreting the constitution and laws, and they also apply their interpretations of the law to controversies proposed. Separation of powers can also be described as a constitutional doctrine that divides the government into autonomous institutions.2 It is a fundamental principle of the United States government where government authority and powers are equally distributed to the three arms of the government.3 It is believed that separating the three powers and allowing them to act independently is the most effective way to promote liberty. This paper assesses the positive and negative features of the US political framework established on the separation of powers. The concept of Separation of powers Separation of powers is an essential principle of modern political systems in democratic countries such as the US. It refers to the separation of the executive, legislature and judiciary in that none of these three branches exercises total power. Its main aim is to prevent one arm of the government from performing the key responsibility of another. Notably, separation of power continues to be widely recognized as an important aspect in American democracy.4 Basically, the idea of separating the three branches of government is to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks and balances, and it can be argued that the doctrine of separation of powers is based on the idea of checks and balances. Ideally, the founders of the doctrine of separation of power come up with such doctrine to ensure that that who made the law could not execute it and those who implemented it could not make it to satisfy their private needs. In the US, the separation of powers is very effective in that, no member of any of the three arms of American government is supposed to be a member so the other arms at the same time. The principle of the rule of law in the American political system is based on the idea that while the parliament is supreme in enacting laws, it is the responsibility of the High Court to interpret that legislation and critically assess whether the proposed law is within the guidelines developed by the Constitution, and this way, the judiciary remains independent and detached from the other arms of the government. Positive aspects of the US political framework There are many positive aspects of the US political framework based on the separation of powers. These include liberty preservation, checks and balances, good governance, fairness and accountability, and limited government among others. First and foremost, the doctrine of separation of powers protects the liberty and constitutional rights of the people, and it also protects them from oppression. Liberty can only be preserved if appropriate checks and balances are put in place.5 Separation of powers provides a safeguard for liberty by ensuring that single person or institution take control over the activities of the government altogether.6 Basically, Separation of power preserves individuals’ liberty by checking the abuses of power that can infringe on liberty.7 It has been noted that there has to separation of powers between the three arms of government for liberty to be preserved.8 In addition, the framers of the US political system developed the doctrine of separation of powers to avoid tyrannical leadership in America, that is, concentrating of all powers in one hand may promote abuse of power and tyranny.9 Therefore, there is need to divide the powers of the government so that no man handles all of them simultaneously. Some scholars have revealed that prevention of tyranny was the main reason for the inclusion of the principle of the separation of powers in the American Constitution. More so, separation of power together with checks and balances helps in checking against the abuse or arrogance of power. Ideally, this was the main aim of the framers of the American constitution when they introduced the principle of separation of powers.10 In addition, separation of power results in various checks and balances to limit the accumulation of power further by a certain arm of the government.11Normally, the principle of checks and balances secures equilibrium between the three arms in that they are able to supervise the behavior and activities of each other.12 Actually, the three arms of the government are able to check on each other to ensure accountability. More so, each branch is able to block the action of the other branches via the system of checks and balances, for instance, the US constitution highlights numerous restraints that the executive arm of government has on the Congress and the judiciary. The executive uses it ability to veto any law to check over the legislative arm of the government. Again, the US president is able to call Congress into session and also has the power to adjourn it. More so, the president has the capacity to appoint federal official and judges while Congress is settled. The executive not only checks over the Congress, but also the judicial branch, that is, the president is able to appoint and pardon judges. On the other hand, the legislative division checks the executive arm, though its power to overrules the president’s votes with a two-thirds vote of both houses of congress. More so, the Congress House can impeach a president when he fails to perform his duties accordingly. Again, the Senate is responsible for approving all treaties and judicial nominations. Further, the Congress checks the judicial arm of the government through the power of impeachment.13 The legislative branch also has the capacity to change the number of justices on the Supreme Court, and it is also responsible for establishing all courts under the Supreme Court and specifying the jurisdictions of these courts. Nevertheless, legislative branch checks itself as both the Senate and the House has to approve a bill before it is passed to become a law. Lastly, the judicial arm of the government also checks over the others, first, it checks on the executive through its power of judicial assessment.14 In addition, the Supreme Court has the power over any laws passed by the Congress, and also the Chief Justice presides over the Senate through arraignment trials. All in all, the division between the executive and the legislature has led to weak partisanship in the American party system which has in turn improved the presentation of American citizens in the parliament. Further, separation of powers promotes good governance and increases the government’s efficiency. It promotes dynamic practice of national power simultaneously.15 Separation of powers enables the branches of the federal government to perform their respective duties more effectively. That is, the main idea behind the division of powers to various branches of the government is to promote the excellent performance of the certain definite functions. Indeed, as powers are equally distributed among the government branches, these arms of government are able to gain deep knowledge of the matters in their area of concern and check on other departments, and so they become more efficient. Again, separation of powers helps in creating a limited government, that is, the distribution of powers to different departments allows these departments to enjoy only limited powers thereby preventing any possibility of the rise of dictatorship. For instance, the powers of each arm is restricted and clearly defined in the American Constitution.16 More so, separation of powers enhances fairness and accountability in that it prevents those who made the laws from also enforcing and punishing the breakers of those laws. Negative aspects of the US political framework Notably, the negative aspects of the US political framework based on the doctrine of separation of powers include rigidity, administrative complications, inequality of powers, and disturbed balance of power among others. Those who are against the principle of separation of power claim that the US political system needs to be restructured along the lines of the British parliamentary system. The doctrine of separation of powers is somehow rigid in that it can put the executive in a deadlock position when attempting to push through legislation and get blocked by the legislature severally. This can prevent the government from implementing a legislation that is desired by the electorate. Again, separation of powers does not necessarily ensure individuals liberty and equality since it is the elites who occupy the top positions in American institutions.17 In addition, the media play a leading role in the US politics particularly during political campaigns and also in changing the perceptions of the public towards certain policies.18 More so, separation of powers leads to administrative complications in that sometimes it becomes very difficult to force cooperation, coordination and harmony among the three arms of the government. Some scholars have advocated for the reduction of separation of powers as they claim that the current principle of separating powers may make the president too weak and insufficiently accountable.19 Separation of powers may create confusion and disharmony among the branches of government. This may in turn paralyze the administration making it unable to make quick decisions. Some opponents argue that separation of powers divides power into fractions and so it leads to weak government structures.20 However, the friction between the executive and legislative arms of the government can be solved by the legislative veto, which provides a chance for both executive and legislative arms of the government to use their inherent advantages.21 Even though the principle of separation of powers is based on the principle of equality of powers, it is flawed because there is still inequality of powers in the government, for instance, in the parliamentary system the legislature, the body representing the people in the government is more powerful, but in the presidential system, the executive is most powerful. Today, the executive arm of the government has become more dominant to the advantage of the Congress and the judiciary.22 This shows that even with the adoption of this doctrine, the powers of the three arms of government continues to be unequal. Therefore, separation of powers among the three branches of government is not fully possible because the executives play a role in the rule making process, and the legislature also performs some judicial functions. For instance, impeachment is judicial in nature, but it is done by the legislature. In addition, the government has become very powerful and this has made the executive arm very powerful thereby disturbing the balance among the three arms of the government. Conclusion The United States political framework is based on the doctrine of separation of powers, which distributes powers among the three arms of the government, the executive, legislature and judiciary. These three arms of the government act independently and have distinct responsibilities. Normally, the legislative arm is to enact laws, the executive arm is to implement and administer the public policy enacted by the legislature, and the judiciary interprets the laws and applies their interpretations to the legal controversies. Separation of powers is an important as it enables the three arms of the government to check over the actions of each other through checks and balances system. Agreeably, separation of powers has many benefits including preserving liberty, addressing abuse of power and tyranny, promotes good governance, fairness and accountability, and ensures checks and balances between different departments of government. However, it can cause disharmony between the three arms of the government given that they all have to play very different roles. More so, separation of powers does not guarantee equal power sharing because a certain arm of government may be dominant at the expense of the others. 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