User talk:Mitchisaac

Blocked
You have been blocked indefinitely from editing because your account is being used only for vandalism. If you believe this block is unjustified you may contest this block by adding the text below; but you should read our guide to appealing blocks first. Willking1979 (talk) 18:51, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Unblock Request 2
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Second chance
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Unblock Request 3
= Upper house =

An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature (or one of three chambers of a tricameral legislature), the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted power than the lower house. Examples of upper houses in countries include the Australian Senate, Brazil's Senado Federal, the Canadian Senate, France's Sénat, India's Rajya Sabha, Ireland's Seanad, Malaysia's Dewan Negara, Myanmar's Amyotha Hluttaw, the Netherlands' Eerste Kamer, Pakistan's Senate of Pakistan, Russia's Federation Council, Switzerland's Council of States, United Kingdom's House of Lords, and the United States Senate.

A legislature composed of only one house (and which therefore has neither an upper house nor a lower house) is described as unicameral.

Upper chambers tend to be the smaller of the two legislative bodies. Members of upper houses customarily serve longer terms, but frequently possess less power than their lower chamber counterparts. The upper chamber (sometimes called the Senate, House of Lords or Federal Council) varies considerably in its composition and in the manner in which its members are selectedCthrough inheritance, appointment and indirect or direct elections. Some upper chambers reflect regional or state divisions, as in Germany and the United States. Citizens often exhibit greater confidence in those upper chambers where they participate in the selection of the legislators through direct or indirect elections. In direct elections, voters cast their ballots directly for a specific candidate or for the party they wish to see in power. With indirect elections, citizens elect local or provincial governments, who then in turn select the upper house members. Chambers formed by direct or indirect elections, unlike appointed or heredity chambers, are more accountable to the people and, for that reason, are deemed to be more democratic.

Most second chambers have wide-ranging powers to monitor the activities of government, in the form of inquiries, questions, proposals and referrals to a constitutional court. However, in the Polish and Slovenian upper houses these powers are fairly restricted.

At the  Forum  of  World  Senates  on  14  March  2000,  about  fifty  delegations  unanimously  adopted a declaration that identified four functions of second chambers, which:  - consolidated   and   enhanced   democratic   regimes,   through   the   diversification   of   representation and the integration of all the members of the nation; - facilitated  the  process  of  decentralisation  and  helped  to  regulate  relations  between  local  and regional authorities and the central authorities; - entrenched  legal  rules  and  standards  and  the  rule  of  law  and  placed  the  separation  of  powers in a modern context; - helped to publicise legislative and political debate and inform and shape public opinion4. 3.   But  although  bicameralism  seems  to  be  in  good  health,  it  continues  to  face  criticism

The most common name is "senate", and even when another title is used the members often call themselves senators

This varies between 15 (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and 346 (France). The average is about 70 to 100  but  there  are  always  fewer  senators  than  members  of  parliament  and  the  number  is  to  a  certain extent linked to the size of population. Federal states are to some extent a special case and an exception to this rule. The same naturally applies to the totally atypical House of Lords.

In a  certain  number  of  cases,  second  chambers  have  exactly  the  same  powers  and  responsibilities  as  their  counterpart  first  chambers. This applies  particularly  to  Italy,  where  the  Senate has the same powers as the lower house to legislate and monitor government action. This situation reflects the method of electing the second chamber, which as with the lower house is by direct universal suffrage. This was also the case in Romania until the last constitutional revision. However, as in Russia, it is no longer possible to  speak  of  equal  bicameralism  although  each  chamber has specific powers.

Second chambers often have fewer financial powers than their lower house equivalents. The Austrian Bundesrat, for example, has no budgetary responsibilities. The Spanish Senate has no power to amend the budget, unless the government agrees. The Irish Senate, the Czech Senate and the  British  House  of  Lords  have  no  budgetary  powers. Moreover, the  budget  is  always  presented first in the lower house.

he arguments against second chambers are well known. They are a burden on tax payers, are undemocratic in their method of selection and impede the parliamentary process by delaying legislation approved by the lower house.

The value of second chambers in small countries31. It would  appear  that  second  chambers  are  particularly  unlikely  to  serve  a  purpose  in  the  smallest  or  least  populated  countries  of  Europe  (Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  Finland,  Estonia,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Portugal,  Cyprus,  Malta,  Greece,  Slovakia,  Bulgaria  and  Hungary). In other  words all these countries with fewer than 15 million inhabitants deem it unnecessary to operate a second  chamber. It should  be  noted  that  some  of  them  (Sweden,  Finland,  Hungary,  Bulgaria)  have  had  bicameral  systems  during  certain  periods  of  their  history,  and  (Hungary,  Bulgaria)  regularly discuss the re-establishment of a senate, or in the case of Ukraine its establishment for the first time. Indeed, with 50 million inhabitants, the last-named country must be considered to be well  suited  to  a  bicameral  system. Moreover, lack  of  a  second  chamber  has  required  these  countries  to  establish  alternative  bodies  to  represent  their  various  economic,  cultural  and  social  interests to complement their single chamber.

The importance of second chambers in federal and highly decentralised states32. As already  noted,  federal  states  in  Europe  and  elsewhere  in  the  world  all  have  bicameral  systems. Popular representation  has  to  be  accompanied  by  representation  of  the  constituent  geographical entities, particularly when the federal state has been formed by a process of merger. There are  (at  least  currently)  no  exceptions  to  this  situation,  which  has  become  a  key  rule  of  federalism. 33.   The  recent  development  of  constitutionally  enshrined  regionalisation  or  decentralisation  points  to  the  same  outcome. Any highly  decentralised  state  needs  a  second  chamber  to  ensure  dialogue   between   the   centre   and   the   periphery. Since  the   Council   of   Europe   considers   decentralisation,  or  more  precisely  local  self-government,  to  be  an  essential  component  of  democracy, second chambers clearly have a bright future.

In Britain that's currently the Lords and the Commons. In America it's Senate and House of Representatives.

Presidential systems
In presidential systems, the upper house is frequently given other powers to compensate for its restrictions:


 * Executive appointments, to the cabinet and other offices, usually require its approval.
 * It frequently has the sole authority to give consent to or denounce foreign treaties.

Institutional structure
There is a variety of ways an upper house's members are assembled: by direct or indirect election, appointment, heredity, or a mixture of these. The German Bundesrat is composed of members of the cabinets of the German states, in most cases the state premier and several ministers; they are delegated and can be recalled anytime. In a very similar way, the Council of the European Union is composed of national ministers.

Many upper houses are not directly elected but appointed: either by the head of government or in some other way. This is usually intended to produce a house of experts or otherwise distinguished citizens, who would not necessarily be returned in an election. For example, members of the Senate of Canada are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister.

In the past, some upper houses had seats that were entirely hereditary, such as in the British House of Lords until 1999 and in the Japanese House of Peers until it was abolished in 1947.

It is also common that the upper house consists of delegates chosen by state governments or local officials. Members of the Rajya Sabha in India are nominated by various states and union territories, while 12 of them are nominated by the President of India. Similarly, at the state level, one-third of the members of the State Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) are nominated by local governments, one-third by sitting legislators, and the rest are elected by select members of the electorate. The United States Senate was chosen by the State legislatures until the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913.

The upper house may be directly elected but in different proportions to the lower house - for example, the Senate of Australia and the United States have a fixed number of elected members from each state, regardless of the population.

Abolition
Many jurisdictions, such as Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Mauritania, New Zealand, Peru, Sweden, Turkey, Venezuela and many Indian states as well as Brazilian states and Canadian provinces, once possessed upper houses but abolished them to adopt unicameral systems. Newfoundland had a Legislative Council prior to joining Canada, as did Ontario when it was Upper Canada and Quebec from 1791 (as Lower Canada) to 1968. Nebraska is the only state in the United States with a unicameral legislature, having abolished its lower house in 1934.

The Australian state of Queensland also once had an appointed Legislative Council before abolishing it in 1922. All other Australian states continue to have bicameral systems (the two territories have always been unicameral).

Like Queensland, the German state of Bavaria had an appointed upper house, the Senate of Bavaria, from 1946 to 1999.

The Senate of the Philippines was abolished – and restored – twice: from 1935 to 1945 when a unicameral National Assembly convened, and from 1972 to 1987 when Congress was closed, and later a new constitution was approved instituting a unicameral Parliament. The Senate was re-instituted with the restoration of a bicameral Congress via a constitutional amendment in 1941, and via adoption of a new constitution in 1987.

A previous government of Ireland (the 31st Dáil) promised a national referendum on the abolition of its upper house, the Seanad Éireann, during the 24th Seanad session. By a narrow margin, the Irish public voted to retain it. Conservative-leaning Fine Gael and Left-leaning Sinn Féin both supported the abolition, while the centrist Fianna Fáil was alone among major parties in supporting the retention of the Seanad.

Common terms

 * Senate&mdash;by far the most common
 * Legislative Council (India, Isle of Man, along with every Australian state that has an upper house)
 * Federal Council (Germany, Austria)
 * Council of States (Switzerland, India, Sudan)
 * First Chamber (Netherlands and formerly Sweden)
 * House of Lords – Seen in the United Kingdom, as well as formerly in Ireland and German-speaking monarchies (Herrenhaus), e.g. the Austrian House of Lords and the Prussian House of Lords

Notes and references
= Draft:Trading 212 =