Many nations around the world use parliamentary systems of government. This form of government is characterized by the fact that the legislative body (Parliament) elects its members on the basis of their party membership. Most parliamentary systems also incorporate some form of proportional representation. In Denmark, for instance, voters choose members of the Folketing by using a mixed system of plurality and PR.
The majority party in Parliament selects its leader, usually a Prime Minister, to serve as the head of government. The Cabinet of Ministers, which includes department ministers, are also selected by the majority party. Parliamentary systems often have a formal mechanism for providing an alternative government-in-waiting in the form of the Official Opposition in Parliament. The role of this opposition is to question and challenge the policies of the government in order to ensure that a diverse range of issues are covered by the policy-making process.
In a parliamentary system, laws are not entrenched in the sense that they may not be amended or repealed. However, the head of state in most parliamentary countries (Monarch in Great Britain, Governor General in New Zealand) can withhold royal assent to an Act. Furthermore, the Supreme Court in Great Britain and New Zealand has a limited power of judicial review to declare an Act unconstitutional.
Walter Bagehot, who wrote extensively on parliamentary government, praised this form of government for encouraging serious debates and permitting the immediate replacement of a discredited Government. In contrast, he disliked fixed-term elections such as the four-year term for the President in the United States. Nevertheless, some parliamentary democracies do allow for elections to be called at any time in the event that the governing body loses popular support or is paralyzed by power-sharing gridlock.
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