What are the advantages and disadvantages of the separation of powers?

Answer 1

Separation of powers often leads to confusion as to the proper reporting procedures in case there is an emergency. Some people can also easily pass the blame (in case of failure) to a different department if there is no clear bureaucracy.

Answer 2

First of all, the advantages of adhering to the doctrine of SOP are as follows;

1- SOP can potentially ensure that each of the three branches of governance, namely the executive, legislature and judiciary, are separated and therefore not able to interfere with one another. This provides the ability for each branch to check and balance on the others actions.

Charles De Montesquieu argued that adhering to the doctrine would ensure that not one single branch would be able to dominate the constitution, and Madison agreed with this view and stated that SOP ensured that not one branch was able to act as a "tyrant" over the others.

2- Democratic; This is a highly disputed area, in particular if we compare the US written Constitution with the UK uncodified Constitution. In the US, which has strictly adhered to the doctrine, each Chamber of Congress as wel as the President are elected for by the people. This has been argued to prove greater authority to both Congress and the President and makes them a more legitimate check than, for example, the UK House of Lords, which contains unelected members appointed by the executive.

In the UK, the government also has a natural majority in the House of Commons as the executive is formed from the majority party in the lower House. This can result in a government with a large majority being Abe to force through legislation without adequate scrutiny from MP's. Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone believed that the government's ability to do this meant the the UK has an "elective Dictatorship".

In the US, however, this potential for abuse is not necessarily omnipresent as the President can not always rely on a majority of members in Congress to pass through legislation as he originally envisaged.

DISADVANTAGES

RIGID; The most obvious disadvantage of complying with SOP is that it can place the Executive in a position of deadlock when trying to push through legislation and consistently gets blocked by the legislature. This is highly undesirable, in particularly when the government is trying to implement legislation which is desired by the electorate.

Answer 3

Separation of powers often leads to confusion as to the proper reporting procedures in case there is an emergency. Some people can also easily pass the blame (in case of failure) to a different department if there is no clear bureaucracy.

Answer 4

Separation of powers hinders the actions of government by reviewing, slowing, or even stopping them. This, however, is the point. Gridlock is a natural state of a government with separation of powers, since each branch can check the other and hinder the other if government action is felt to be improper. This theory uses human ambition to restrain other human ambition. After all, some feel that the less government the better, and this idea is part of separation of powers. Without separation of powers, the unified system easily becomes tyrannical: dictatorships are efficient, but not very desireable.

Answer 5

it does not grant a single person or group too much power

Answer 6

Lack of cooperation between branches of legislature, lengthy battles over legislation, and a lack of consistency between administrations.