Lapsed Power
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Lapsed Power
In politics and government, lapsed power is a term often used to describe a certain constitutionally-granted power of government that is no longer used, according to constitutional convention. This may be because the power's original conditions of use no longer exist, making it an anachronism, or simply because the nation's political culture and attitudes have shifted, making the power appear too morally or ethically objectionable to use. However, the power still exists. Examples of lapsed powers include the reserve powers of a monarch under a constitutional monarchy. Constitutional monarchs have significant powers over matters such as the appointment of the prime minister or the veto of legislation, but in practice these powers are rarely actually used independently. Comparative public law scholar Richard Albert has theorized a related phenomenon he calls "constitutional desuetude," which occurs "when an entrenched constitutional provision loses its binding force upon political ...
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Constitutional Convention (political Custom)
A constitutional convention is an informal and uncodified tradition that is followed by the institutions of a state. In some states, notably those Commonwealth of Nations states that follow the Westminster system and whose political systems derive from British constitutional law, most government functions are guided by constitutional convention rather than by a formal written constitution. In these states, actual distribution of power may be markedly different from those the formal constitutional documents describe. In particular, the formal constitution often confers wide discretionary powers on the head of state that, in practice, are used only on the advice of the head of government, and in some cases not at all. Some constitutional conventions operate separately from or alongside written constitutions, such as in Canada since the country was formed with the enactment of the Constitution Act, 1867. In others, notably the United Kingdom, which lack a single overarching constitu ...
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Anachronism
An anachronism (from the Ancient Greek, Greek , 'against' and , 'time') is a chronology, chronological inconsistency in some arrangement, especially a juxtaposition of people, events, objects, language terms and customs from different time periods. The most common type of anachronism is an object misplaced in time, but it may be a verbal expression, a technology, a philosophical idea, a musical style, a material, a plant or animal, a custom, or anything else associated with a particular period that is placed outside its proper temporal domain. (An example of that would be films including non-avian dinosaurs and prehistoric human beings living side by side, but they were, in reality, millions of years apart.) An anachronism may be either intentional or unintentional. Intentional anachronisms may be introduced into a literary or artistic work to help a contemporary audience engage more readily with a historical period. Anachronism can also be used intentionally for purposes of rh ...
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Reserve Powers
Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US village * Reserve, Wisconsin, a census-designated place in the town of Couderay * Reserve Mines, a community in Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia, Canada Auctions * Auction reserve, a minimum amount of money bid required for a sale, e.g., in an English auction * No-reserve auction (NR), also known as an absolute auction, an auction in which the item for sale will be sold regardless of price Economics and finance * Reserve (accounting), any part of shareholders' equity, except for basic share capital * Actuarial reserves, a liability equal to the present value of the future expected cash flows of a contingent event * Bank reserves, holdings of deposits in central banks plus currency that is physically held in bank vaults * Fore ...
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Constitutional Monarchy
A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies differ from absolute monarchies (in which a monarch is the only decision-maker) in that they are bound to exercise powers and authorities within limits prescribed by an established legal framework. Constitutional monarchies range from countries such as Liechtenstein, Monaco, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, where the constitution grants substantial discretionary powers to the sovereign, to countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Japan, where the monarch retains significantly less personal discretion in the exercise of their authority. ''Constitutional monarchy'' may refer to a system in which the monarch acts as a non-party political head of ...
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Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not the head of state, but rather the head of government, serving under either a monarch in a democratic constitutional monarchy or under a president in a republican form of government. In parliamentary systems fashioned after the Westminster system, the prime minister is the presiding and actual head of government and head/owner of the executive power. In such systems, the head of state or their official representative (e.g., monarch, president, governor-general) usually holds a largely ceremonial position, although often with reserve powers. Under some presidential systems, such as South Korea and Peru, the prime minister is the leader or most senior member of the cabinet, not the head of government. In many systems, the prime minister ...
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Veto
A veto is a legal power to unilaterally stop an official action. In the most typical case, a president or monarch vetoes a bill to stop it from becoming law. In many countries, veto powers are established in the country's constitution. Veto powers are also found at other levels of government, such as in state, provincial or local government, and in international bodies. Some vetoes can be overcome, often by a supermajority vote: in the United States, a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate can override a presidential veto. Article I, Section 7, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution Some vetoes, however, are absolute and cannot be overridden. For example, in the United Nations Security Council, the permanent members ( China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) have an absolute veto over any Security Council resolution. In many cases, the veto power can only be used to prevent changes to the status quo. But some veto powers also include the ...
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Regionalism (politics)
Regionalism is a political ideology that seeks to increase the political power, influence, and/or self-determination of the people of one or more subnational regions. It focuses on the "development of a political or social system based on one or more" regions and/or the national, normative or economic interests of a specific region, group of regions or another subnational entity, gaining strength from or aiming to strengthen the "consciousness of and loyalty to a distinct region with a homogeneous population", similarly to nationalism. More specifically, "regionalism refers to three distinct elements: movements demanding territorial autonomy within unitary states; the organization of the central state on a regional basis for the delivery of its policies including regional development policies; political decentralization and regional autonomy". Regions may be delineated by administrative divisions, culture, language and religion, among others. Regionalists' demands occur in "stron ...
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