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by herge 4267 days ago
> 4.- Different elections: for executive and legislative (like in France)

The two most powerful countries with non-figurehead executives (France and the United States) are perpetually beset with bickering and internal fighting instead of "checks and balances". Is a system with government shutdowns like we saw last year in the US, or François Hollands troubles in France any better than a system where all the power is held by the legislature and the prime minister? I only see a president as a sort of dictator who holds for 4 or 5 years the view of the electorate at one point in time, as opposed to a legislature who are always looking at future elections.
2 comments
dragonwriter 4267 days ago
> The two most powerful countries with non-figurehead executives (France and the United States) are perpetually beset with bickering and internal fighting instead of "checks and balances".

That's not so much a problem of a Presidential system as a problem of the a Presidential system in a country which also has a poorly-representative electoral system in general (particularly for the national legislature).

However, there aren't a lot of systems that have electoral systems that produce effective representation and Presidential systems in the same place.

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r0dia 4267 days ago
France doesn't have a full separation of powers since the president's executive needs the OK from the legislative power.

The Montesquieu proposal is the best mechanism that we have to avoid institutional corruption. If the power is held only by one group (legislators) corruption is inevitable.

If you only care about the output then Plato was right and the best system would be an aristocracy that cares and chooses the best for the country.

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