Negativní parlamentarismus: cesta k efektivnějšímu fungování parlamentního režimu?
Miloš Brunclík
Negative Parliamentarism: The Path to more Efficient Functioning of the Parliamentary System?Negative parliamentarism is a type of parliamentary regime, in which tolerance (not active support of parliamentary majority) is the key principle of government formation. It is applied in some European parliamentary monarchies (Great Britain, Denmark, Norway and Sweden), in some succession states, which inherited the parliamentary tradition (New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Iceland) and elsewhere (Austria, Portugal, the Netherlands, the Faroe Islands). In the past the negative parliamentarism was practiced in Finland (until 2000) or in Greece (until 1986). The key difference between the positive parliamentarism and negative one is the issue of government formation, but not in the issue of its termination, because both versions allow the parliament to recall the government through the vote of no confidence. Negative parliamentarism facilitate formation of (minority) governments and its existence correlates with relatively short post-election negotiations. Negative parliamentarism may be also conceived as one of the ways to improve the Czech parliamentary regime, even though this way is – in comparison to ideas of electoral system change – truly only theoretical.
