Question

What are the merits and demerits of a parliamentary system of government?

Answer 1

Instructions:

• Merits- Greater Coordination, Accountability, Prevents autocracy.
• Demerits- Unstable government, no long term radical decisions, new governments stall previous projects

Solution: The Parliamentary System of Government is the one where people elect their representatives to the legislature and the members of the executive are drawn from the legislature.
Merits-

• The executive is the part of the legislature and hence it allows for greater coordination between them.
• This system is also called 'Responsible Government' because the members of the legislature address issues of public concern.
• This system prevents misuse of power as the government can be removed from power if a majority of members of Parliament lose trust in the government.

Demerits-

• The government is unstable and can be removed from office by passing a no-confidence motion in the parliament.
• Owing to the instability, often the governments are reluctant to take important and radical long term decisions.
• Whenever a different party comes to power, it tries to ignore the development projects started by the previous government.