Paul Christopher Manuel - Checks and Balances?: How a Parliamentary System Could Change American Politics

Dilemmas in American Politics

Series Editor L. Sandy Maisel, Colby College

Dilemmas in American Politics offers teachers and students a series of quality books on timely topics and key institutions in American government. Each text will examine a "real world" dilemma and will be structured to cover the historical, theoretical, policy relevant, and future dimensions of its subject.

EDITORIAL BOARD

Jeffrey M. Berry
Tufts University

John F. Bibby
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

David T. Canon
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Rodolfo O. de la Garza
University of Texas-Austin

Diana Evans
Trinity College

Linda L. Fowler
Dartmouth College

Paul S. Herrnson
University of Maryland-College Park

Ruth S. Jones
Arizona State University

Paula D. McClain
University of Virginia

Karen O'Connor
American University

Samuel C. Patterson
Ohio State University

Ronald , Rapoport
The College of William and Mary

Craig A. Rimmerman
Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Larry Sabato
University of Virginia

David Shribman
The Boston Globe

Walter J. Stone
University of Colorado-Boulder

BOOKS IN THIS SERIES

Checks and Balances ? How a Parliamentary System Could Change American Politics,
Paul Christopher Manuel and Anne Marie Cammisa

"Can We All Get Along?" Racial and Ethnic Minorities in
American Politics, Second Edition, Paula D. McClain and Joseph Stewart Jr.

Remote and Controlled: Media Politics in a Cynical Age, Second Edition,
Matthew Robert Kerbel

The Angry American: How Voter Rage Is Changing the Nation, Second Edition,
Susan J. Tolchin

Two PartiesOr More ? The American Party System,
John F. Bibby and L. Sandy Maisel

Making Americans, Remaking America: Immigration and Immigrant Policy,
Louis DeSipio and Rodolfo O. de la Garza

From Rhetoric to Reform ? Welfare Policy in American Politics,
Anne Marie Cammisa

The New Citizenship: Unconventional Politics, Activism, and Service,
Craig A. Rimmerman

No Neutral Ground? Abortion Politics in an Age of Absolutes, Karen O'Connor
Onward Christian Soldiers? The Religious Right in American Politics, Clyde Wilcox

Payment Due: A Nation in Debt, a Generation in Trouble,
Timothy J. Penny and Steven E. Schier

Bucking the Deficit: Economic Policymaking in the United States,
G. Calvin Mackenzie and Saranna Thornton

How a Parliamentary System Could Change American Politics

Paul Christopher Manuel
Saint Anselm College

Anne Marie Cammisa
Suffolk University

First published 1999 by Westview Press, Inc.

Published 2018 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Manuel, Paul Christopher.
Checks and balances?: how a parliamentary system could change American politics / Paul Christopher Manuel, Anne Marie Cammisa.
p. cm.(Dilemmas in American politics)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8133-3026-2 (hardcover). ISBN 0-8133-3027-0 (pbk.)
1. Representative government and representationUnited States. 2. Cabinet systemGreat Britain. 3. Comparative government. I. Cammisa, Anne Marie. II. Title. III. Series.
JK271.M2755 1999
324.6'3'0973dc21

98-27075
CIP

ISBN 13: 978-0-367-00969-4 (hbk)

THIS BOOK STARTED as a discussion between two professors. One of us teaches comparative politics and government at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire; the other teaches American politics and government at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts. Both of us have found that our students in some ways lacked a context when discussing American democracy. And both of usthe comparativist and the Americanistfound that we often drew comparisons between the British parliamentary system and the American presidential system in order to provide a context for our studentsa framework within which they could expand their concept of democracy and their understanding of various political systems. In discussions with each other, we wondered what the United States would be like if it had a parliamentary system. And since we are married to each other, the discussions continued on a daily basis, and the idea for this book was eventually formulated.

One of the debates in the field of political science concerns the advantages of a parliamentary system versus a presidential system. This book applies that broad debate to the case of the United States and asks students to consider whether it is better for a democracy to function under a British-style parliamentary system (which may enable a legislative majority to dominate politics and facilitate rapid change) or an American-style presidential system (which may provide for a complex balancing of powers and incremental change). In the face of a parliamentary alternative to the American presidential system, Checks and Balances? How a Parliamentary System Could Change American Politics illustrates how the constitutional system of checks and balances functions. Throughout, the text explains how the institutional dimension of the political equationsometimes overlooked by politicians and scholars alikeis of vital importance to a proper understanding of American politics. We hope this book will help American students better understand their own form of government, while expanding their knowledge of other governments.

There are many people who made this book possible. First, our thanks go to series editor Sandy Maisel, who did not dismiss our idea for this book as preposterous. Former Westview editor Jennifer Knerr also played an important role in the formation of the book. Present editor Leo Wiegman and assistant editors Adina was presented at the 1996 fall meeting of the Northeastern Political Science Association in Boston. We would like to thank all of the participants on the panel "History and Structure of Party Systems" for their very constructive commentary, particularly Eileen McDonagh, Arthur Paulson, and John Berg. We are grateful to the very useful comments made by the anonymous reviewers on both the original proposal and the subsequent manuscript. At Saint Anselm College and Suffolk University, we had the able assistance of several students, including Aaron Frei, Eliza Brown, Janice Camara, Michael Guilfoyle, Noelle Michaud, Michele O'Connor, Laurie Silverio, Jennifer LaPierre, and Caryn Eggeraat. The staff at both Saint Anselm College's Geisel Library and Suffolk University's Sawyer Library were quite helpful in finding obscure documents through interlibrary loan. A 1996 summer research grant from Suffolk University provided support for the research. Additional research for the book was carried out at Harvard University's Widener Library, Georgetown University's Lauinger Library, and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Needed nourishment during the final stage of this project was provided by the Montrose Spa neighborhood store on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts.