Unicameralism
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- For "unicameral" alphabets, see the article "letter case".
- For "The unicameral", see Nebraska Legislature.
Unicameralism is the practice of having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Many countries with unicameral legislatures are often small and homogeneous unitary states and consider an upper house or second chamber unnecessary.
A view in favor of unicameral legislatures is that if an upper house is democratic, it simply mirrors the equally democratic lower house, and is therefore duplicative. A theory in favor of this view is that the functions of a second chamber, such as reviewing or revising legislation, can be performed by parliamentary committees, while further constitutional safeguards can be provided by a written constitution.
In many instances, the governments that now have unicameral legislatures were once bicameral and subsequently eliminated the upper chamber. One reason for such a change is because an elected upper house has overlapped the lower house and obstructed passage of legislation, an example being the case of the Landsting in Denmark (abolished in 1953). Another reason is because an appointed chamber has proven ineffectual, one example being the case of the Legislative Council in New Zealand (abolished in 1951).
Other nations, such as the United Kingdom and Canada, have technically bicameral systems that function much as unicameral systems, because one house is largely ceremonial and retains few powers. Thus, in the United Kingdom, control of the House of Commons determines control of the government, and the unelected House of Lords has the power only to delay legislation and to recommend amendments.
Supporters of unicameralism note the need to control government spending and the elimination of redundant work done by both chambers. Critics of unicameralism point out the double checks and balances that a bicameral system affords, forcing a greater level of consensus on legislative issues. A feature of unicameralism is that urban areas with large populations have more influence than sparsely populated rural ones. In many cases the only way to get sparsely populated regions on board a unified government is to implement a bicameral system (such as the early United States). Supporters say this is an advantage, as they see it provides better Apportionment (politics) while opponents see giving more power to rural regions as a goal in itself.
Some of the subnational entities with unicameral legislatures include Nebraska and the Virgin Islands in the United States, the Australian states and territories of Queensland, Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, all of the provinces and territories in Canada, all of the German Bundesländer (Bavaria having abolished its Senate in 1999), and all of the Italian Regioni.
In the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly are also unicameral.
Virtually all city legislatures are also unicameral in the sense that the city councils are not divided into two chambers. Until the turn of the 20th century, bicameral city councils were common in the United States[citation needed].
In a non-binding referendum held on July 10, 2005, voters in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico approved changing to a unicameral legislature by 456,267 votes in favor (83.7%) versus 88,720 against (16.3%). The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico currently has a bicameral legislature comprising a Senate and a House of Representatives. If both houses approve by a 2/3 vote the specific amendments to the Puerto Rico Constitution that are required for the change to a unicameral legislature, another referendum will be held in Puerto Rico to approve such amendments. If those constitutional changes are approved, Puerto Rico will switch to a unicameral legislature as early as 2009.
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[edit] Examples
- National People's Congress in the People's Republic of China
- Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
- Croatian Sabor
- National Assembly of People’s Power of Cuba
- The Folketing of Denmark
- Parlamento Nacional of East Timor
- The Eduskunta of Finland
- The Vouli ton Ellinon of Greece
- The Legislative Council of Hong Kong (divide into two chambers for private members' bills)
- The Althing of Iceland
- Knesset of Israel
- National Assembly of Iraq
- The Landtag of Liechtenstein
- The National Assembly of Mauritius
- New Zealand Parliament
- The Storting of Norway (may divide into two chambers for some purposes)
- Assembly of the Republic of Portugal
- Assemblée Nationale of Seychelles
- Gukhoe of South Korea
- Parliament of Singapore
- National Congress of Honduras
- Parliament of Sri Lanka
- The Riksdag of Sweden (since 1971)
- Turkey's Grand National Assembly of Turkey
- Asamblea Nacional of Venezuela
- Scottish Parliament
- The Parliaments of Spanish Autonomous Communities
- The Nebraska State Legislature
- Colonial legislatures of Pennsylvania and Georgia
- Vermont General Assembly until 1836
- Parliament of Scotland until 1707
- All German state parliaments
- All legislatures and legislative councils of the regions and communities of Belgium
[edit] Unicameralist trends within the States of the United States
Within the individual United States, bicameralism was usually modeled upon that of the United States Federal Government, with the upper house, in analogy to the states, consisting of State Senators who represented geographic areas independent of their population, typically counties.
In 1964, a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Reynolds v. Sims voided this arrangement as applied to states. In response to this most states replaced the fixed geographic boundaries with more flexible State Senatorial Districts, which are re-drawn after every decennial census. In such cases the term of office for the upper house will usually be longer and the number of seats lower than for the lower house. Like the districts of the lower house they are now subject to the process of gerrymandering, with boundaries manipulated to favor incumbents of both parties (as in California), or to favor the majority party (as in Maryland and Texas).
Nebraska is currently the only state with a unicameral legislature. Nebraska's state legislature is also unique in the sense that it is the only state legislature that is entirely nonpartisan.
In 1999, Governor Jesse Ventura said that Minnesota should adopt unicameralism. Though debated, the idea was never adopted.
[edit] Unicameralist trend in the Philippines
In the Philippines, the process of amending or revising the current constitution and form of government is popularly known as Charter Change. A shift to a unicameral parliament is included in the proposals of the constitutional commission created by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.[1] Unlike in the United States, senators in the Philippine Senate are elected not per district and state but nationally; the Philippines is a unitary state.[2] The Philippine government's decision making process, relative to the United States, is more rigid, highly centralized, much slower and susceptible to political "gridlocks." As a result, the trend for unicameralism as well as other political system reforms are more contentious in the Philippines. [3]
