Parliamentary absolutism
Classroom absolutism or Parliament absolutism or absolutism of Parliament is by eliminating the division of power in. The parliament not only exercises legislative tasks, but also forms the highest level of the executive and judiciary . The government and courts appear as subordinate instances of parliament.
The difference between a parliamentary form of government and a parliamentary absolutism lies in the fact that in a parliamentary form of government the government independently conducts government affairs and the parliament can indeed withdraw the government's confidence and vote out the government, but cannot take governmental and administrative acts instead of the government in individual cases or make individual decisions in legal matters or annul individual court judgments. Historically, parliamentary absolutism has mostly been the facade for the rule of oligarchic cliques, a one-party system or the striving for rule of influential party leaders who, for various reasons, do not seek an undisguised personal dictatorship.
Historical examples
The victory of the English parliament in the civil war against King Charles I and in the Glorious Revolution against his son Jacob II is considered the first and clearest triumph of parliamentary absolutism . Initially, Oliver Cromwell, as the unrestricted Commonwealth ruler, also had parliament under control, but after the Glorious Revolution, parliament consolidated its position vis-à-vis the constitutional monarch, who last vetoed parliament in 1720 and was overruled.
Criticism of the omnipotence of parliament and its dominant influence on the government was only discussed in connection with the dominance of the Jacobins and sans-culottes during the French Revolution .
An often cited example of modern times is parliamentary absolutism in Turkey and in the Ottoman Empire between 1919 and 1923. The government of the Young Turks collapsed and went into hiding after the defeat in World War I in 1918, and the sultan they overthrew died in the same year successor appointed by the Young Turks. The new sultan, a brother of both predecessors, was more or less in Allied captivity in the occupied capital Istanbul . The last Ottoman parliament was dissolved by the British and deported to Malta . In Ankara in 1919 nationalist supporters of the rebellious general Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) declared themselves to be part of the Grand National Assembly , Kemal became chairman of the defense committee and thus in fact head of government until 1921, see also Turkish Liberation War . In the meantime, all state power, including the executive , was in the hands of parliament and its chairman. After the overthrow of the Sultan in 1922, Kemal was also officially President of Parliament and in 1923 President of the Republic , who got his way in Parliament.
Counterweight
The actual counterweight, however, is not the constitutional power of the head of state, who in any case only plays the role of representative in a parliamentary republic or parliamentary monarchy. Rather, the omnipotence of parliament is restricted by the actual power of the head of government. Compulsory parliamentary group , parliamentary group or party chairmanship and the personal union of office and mandate play a key role.
If the head of government is also chairman of the parliamentary group or party chairman of the ruling party that holds a majority in parliament, he can use his personal weight to force the members of his party to submit to the party decisions through group compulsion or group discipline. It is not only in Great Britain or Germany that the interplay between government and parliament is based on such personal unions and has worked in this way for decades.
In almost all modern western democracies, the parliamentary majority has long been part of the government, or at least an ally. As a result, the role of parliament as a counterbalance to the government is partially canceled out, and the entire separation of powers that was fought for in the 19th century is unequally influenced. In fact, only the opposition minority in parliament still has its original task of controlling the government.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Karl Kautsky already wrote the VI. Chapter of his work The Parliamentarism, the People's Legislation and Social Democracy (JHW Dietz, 1893): "Monarchical and parliamentary absolutism"
- ↑ Walther Hubatsch: The Age of Absolutism. 1600-1789. In: History of the Modern Age. Westermann, 1970, p. 137.
- ^ Regina Pörtner: "The highest of time". Constitutional crisis and political theory in England 1640–1660. In: Historical Research. Volume 90, Duncker & Humblot, 2009, ISBN 978-3-428-13100-6 , pp. 70ff.
- ↑ cf. Norbert Achterberg: Parliamentary Law. Mohr Siebeck, 1984, ISBN 978-3-16-644769-8 , p. 202.