The British Empire: A source for good or evil? February 2014 | Page 8

DIOP Jean-Baptiste
HOANG Thanh-Thao

A democratic system of Parliament based on
the Westminster system model
Many former colonies continue to use the democratic system of Parliament introduced by
Britain. This is a force for good in the world. Since 1707, the United Kingdom run with a politic
system of unitary parliamentary which based on the Westminster system.
Why the Westminster system model which inspired the Britannic
democratic system of Parliament is a force for good in the world ?
1.

Introduced the System of Parliament

United kingdom had a lot of influence on his colonies by many ways : in sciences, culture and
also in politic. Nowadays, it stills a lot of former colonies which keep a parliament system, they are
independent but continue to recognize the queen's authority.
Since 6 February 1952, is Queen Elizabeth II who is the Commonwealth monarch. She lives
predominantly in the United Kingdom and, while several powers are the sovereign's alone, most of
the royal governmental and ceremonial duties are carried out by the Queen's representative, the
governor general.

2.

The constitutional rôle based on Westminster model

The former and current colonies constitution is based on the Westminster parliamentary model,
wherein the role of the Queen is both legal and practical, but not political.
Important features of the Westminster system include the following, although not all of the
following aspects have been preserved in every Westminster-derived system :
–
A sovereign (or head of state) who is the legal and constitutional holder of executive power.
However his powers are limited by constitutional convention and he use it only with the head of
government’s opinion.
–
A head of government known as the prime minister who is appointed by the so ٕɕ