Constitutions, institutions and political parties

Answer

The basic rulebook of a country: it sets out who holds power, how institutions work, and how leaders are checked.

Answer

Splitting government into three branches — legislature (law-making), executive (governing) and judiciary (courts) — so no branch dominates.

Answer

Each branch of government can limit and block the others, so power is never fully concentrated in one place.

Answer

The power of courts to strike down laws that break the constitution. Established for the US Supreme Court in Marbury v Madison (1803).

Answer

The presidency (executive), Congress — Senate and House of Representatives — (legislature), and the Supreme Court (judiciary).

Answer

It used pure proportional representation, so many small parties won seats and no stable majority could form — governments rose and fell constantly.

Answer

A rule that a party must win at least 5% of the national vote to take Bundestag seats — designed to keep out tiny extremist parties.

Answer

The 1949 Basic Law put the chancellor at the centre of government and allowed removal only by electing a replacement (constructive vote of no confidence).

Answer

A party built on a large, organised membership rather than a small elite. The SPD in Germany, growing from the 1870s, is the classic model.

Answer

Only the top candidate per seat wins, so votes concentrate on two big parties — as with the US Democrats and Republicans.

Answer

Seats are shared in proportion to votes, so many parties survive and governments are usually coalitions — as in Germany.

Answer

Immigration reshaped who the electorate was (especially in the USA); the media — party papers, then radio and TV — reshaped how parties reached voters.