Principle of Checks And Balances and Quality of Governance in Contemporary Political Systems

Link between the principle of “checks and balances” and the quality of governance in contemporary political systems
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Link between the principle of “checks and balances” and the quality of governance in contemporary political systems
Separation of powers in a country is a fundamental undertaking to ensure democracy prevails. The three organs of government include legislature, executive, and judiciary which acts independently. Additionally, devolved governments are often separated into federal, state, and local governments, which act in conjunction with each other, but have their significant differences in execution of the power. Democracy alludes to the civil and political rights and the fair distribution of power within the society. Democracy and separation of power focus on how citizens of a particular country can control and maintain scrutiny over political institutions. In this context, the system of checks and balances forms an integral part of the constitution. The provisions of checks and balances ensure that the three branches of the government cannot limit the powers of one another (Bebler & Seroka, 1990). Through these systems, no branch is more powerful than the other, and it ensures that power is balanced for the citizens. The intent of this paper is to address the link between the principle of “checks and balances” and the quality of governance in contemporary political systems given that political systems might operate on a similar legal platform and use the same type of governmental approaches that often deliver differently.
Throughout our history, we have used social constructs that include economics, culture, and religion as the major factors that determine the political system. The contemporary democratic systems of government are based on state power, which is often capital. Despite the use of democratic mechanisms, there is a lack of declared political rights and freedom. Suggestively, power is taken by individuals whose personal and professional qualities do not correspond to their obligation to the public leading to a deceptive effect of a delegation of national interests. Few nations in the modern world have constitutional provisions that are more than a hundred years. Notably, most of the countries have constitutions that were written in the 20th and 21st century (Fortes & Evans-Pritchard, 2015). For instance, countries that were defeated in the World War II, including Germany, Italy, and Japan, as well as countries that have encountered civil war and political instability in recent times including the successor states of the Soviet Union, Spain, and China. In these countries, checks and balance function differently as demonstrated in the following ways:
Input in the decision
For democratic and old countries, such as the USA and the UK, the decision-making process lies in the power of the people. For an instant, Brexit was one of the recent decision-making constitutional provision that saw the UK leave the European Union through a referendum. For the contemporary political systems, decisions can be made by a small group where leaders gather members of a group and ask for their opinion on an issue. In the country level,...