Please help!
2007-02-19 10:33:07 · 5 answers · asked by ROCKSTARRR :] 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
Separation of powers, a term coined by French political Enlightenment thinker Baron de Montesquieu, is a model for the governance of democratic states.
Under this model the state is divided into branches, and each branch of the state has separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility. But this is only half the story, as each branch is also able to place specified restraints on the powers exerted by the other branches. The normal division of branches is into the executive (or government), the legislative, and the judicial. The US system refers to the branches as "branches of government", while some systems use "government" to describe the executive.
Proponents of separation of powers believe that it protects democracy and forestalls tyranny; opponents of separation of powers point out that, regardless of whether it accomplishes this end, that it also slows down the process of governing, and/or promotes executive dictatorship and unaccountability, and the marginalization of the legislature.
No democratic system exists with an absolute separation of powers or an absolute lack of separation of powers. Nonetheless some systems are clearly founded on the principle of separation of powers while others are clearly based on a mingling of powers.
2007-02-19 10:40:50 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Surf around regarding the Nixon Presidency and firing of the Attorney General by Nixon
2007-02-19 10:50:35 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try the ENCARTA - an excellent resource. Or try the online WIKIPEDIA. You could also check out Britannica Online.
2007-02-19 10:42:34 · answer #3 · answered by Kamal P 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040719/cole
2007-02-19 10:41:05 · answer #4 · answered by Jose R 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_v._Board_of_Education
2007-02-19 11:05:35 · answer #5 · answered by michaelsan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋