Indian Kanoon - Search engine for Indian Law

The effect which the factor of party has upon the working of a Constitution is not always easy to calculate, and it varies from country to country. In the United States, while it has clearly strengthened the executive, it provides also strength to Congress in its battles with the executive and results in the virtual paralysis of American government at certain times. In France, under the Third and Fourth Republics, the multi-party system weakened the cabinet. The Constitution endowed the executive with considerable powers, yet it could not exercise these powers with resolution or certainty because it could not count upon continuous or effective party support. Thus a set of political circumstances, outside the formal Constitution, determined the balance of power between the cabinet and the legislature in France. In some other countries of Continental Europe, however, a multiparty system does not produce such great instability of government. In Holland and Belgium and in the Scandivanian countries, parties are readier to form a coalition government with greater security of tenure than that enjoyed by most French governments. In countries which two major parties are the contestants for power, it is common to find a cabinet in a stronger position relatively than in countries with a multi-party system. But it is not right to generalize. In each case it is necessary to analyse the structure of parties to discover how much real cohesion and unity there is behind the facade. Canada, for example, has two major parties, but the Liberal Party, though in power for many years, had to make many compromises within itself to reconcile the differences of its French-Canadian supporters with their English-speaking colleagues. A Canadian cabinet may at times exhibit the caution and compromise usually associated with coalition government."