Prime Minister (Head Of Government) Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

In a parliamentary system of government, a prime minister is the head of the cabinet that constitutes the executive branch of government. Instead of being popularly elected to the post, a prime minister holds office as long as the cabinet maintains the confidence of a majority of popularly elected members of parliament. As the name implies, a prime minister ranks first among ministers, but shares collective responsibility to parliament with other ministers in the cabinet.

British System

In the United Kingdom, where a single party normally holds a majority of the seats in Parliament, the leader of that party automatically becomes the prime minister. In such circumstances, the government expects a parliamentary majority to endorse its legislative proposals. If members of parliament (MPs) in the governing party refused to give a vote of confidence in their own party leadership, this would split the party.

A prime minister is also responsible for leading the respective party to victory at the next general election. The concentration of media attention on the prime minister’s campaign role is often described as leading to the presidentialization of politics. However, unlike a president, a prime minister’s term of office is usually not fixed. The prime minister can be forced out of office in the middle of Parliament’s term if opinion polls indicate the prime minister’s government is unpopular and headed toward electoral defeat. In the past half century, the British prime minister has more often left office under midterm pressure from within the governing party than because of electoral defeat.

Under Proportional Representation

In many parliamentary systems, a proportional representation electoral system results in no party having a majority in parliament. To gain office, a prime minister depends on support from members of parliament of parties that have fought each other at the preceding election. A coalition cabinet can distribute major offices between two or more parties that collectively have a parliamentary majority. If a large party is short only a few seats of a majority, then a larger party can be joined by a smaller party. For example, a “red-green” coalition could exist between a large social democratic party and an ecological party. If seats in parliament are widely distributed among half a dozen or more parties, a coalition cabinet may consist of three or more parties, as is usually the case in Belgium or the Netherlands. A large party can sometimes govern even though it has a minority of seats in parliament if opposition parties are so divided they cannot join together to defeat the government in parliament. A prime minister must be a political manager to maintain the unity of a coalition government and avoid some members quitting to force an election or a coalition under a different prime minister.

In a single-party government, the task is to manage frictions among competing interests and competing personalities, because the cabinet will contain several ambitious colleagues who aim to succeed to the top office. A prime minister can use the power of patronage to silence potential critics by giving them an important ministerial post, and those hopeful for a cabinet job can compete in showing loyalty to the prime minister.

Policy Responsibility And The Cabinet

The chief policy responsibility of a prime minister is to represent the country internationally. For example, when the British prime minister is in contact with the U.S. president, the prime minister deals with the White House, while cabinet ministers of finance and defense deal with their opposite numbers in the U.S. Treasury or Pentagon. In the European Union’s Council of Ministers, each prime minister meets with twenty-six other heads of government to deliberate on European Union issues.

Collectively, the dozen or more cabinet ministers responsible for departments concerned with the economy, social affairs, defense, law, the environment, and local government have far more time to deal with issues than the prime minister. They, and their civil servants, together form the core of the executive branch. The constraints of the clock limit the amount of time a prime minister can devote to any one issue. Therefore, the first decision a prime minister must make is whether to get involved in an issue—and on matters of little electoral importance, the prime minister may allow a cabinet minister wide leeway. The formation of a coalition government often involves a formal agreement acknowledging that different parties can take the lead in different ministries, thus creating “no go” fields where the prime minister cannot intervene.

A prime minister is responsible for balancing competing demands from cabinet colleagues, such as the desire of health and education ministers to spend more money on popular policies and of the treasury minister wanting to deliver popular tax cuts. In striking a balance, the prime minister takes into account how the government’s taxing and spending measures will influence the electorate as well as the economy.

Mixed Systems

In a strictly parliamentary system, the formal head of government may be a monarch or president chosen in ways that deny that office electoral legitimacy. Countries such as France and Russia have a mixed system in which there is a president elected separately from parliament, as well as a prime minister leading the dominant party in parliament. General Charles de Gaulle devised a constitution for the Fifth French Republic in which the president was institutionally dominant. However, there have been periods when party control of the presidency and of the French Assembly and prime minister ship have differed, creating an uneasy coexistence.

The Russian Federation Constitution, prepared by President Boris Yeltsin in 1993, not only gave many powers to the president, but also created the office of prime minister, appointed by the president but requiring the support of the Duma, or parliament. The presidency became even stronger under Vladimir Putin. However, because he was constitutionally prevented from standing for a third term, in 2008 Putin used his role as leader of the United Russia Party to become prime minister and nominated a young protégé, Dmitry Medvedev, to succeed him as president. This brought about a major shift in the balance of power between the offices of prime minister and president.

Bibliography:

Elgie, Robert, ed. Semi-presidentialism in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Helms, Ludiger. Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chancellors. Basingstoke, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
Rose, Richard. The Prime Minister in a Shrinking World. Oxford: Polity Press, 2001.
Rose, Richard, and Ezra Suleiman, eds. Presidents and Prime Ministers. Washington, D.C.: American Enterprise Institute, 1980.
Sakwa, Richard. Putin: Russia’s Choice. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2008.
Smith, Martin J. The Core Executive in Britain. London: Macmillan, 1999.
Weller, Patrick, John Wanna, and Haig Patapan, eds. Westminster Legacies. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press, 2005.

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