quasi autonomous national (or non-)governmental organisations.)
Clearly the fewer the number of ‘political’ posts, the more top civil
service jobs are likely to have a policy content. Virtually all systems
have a large civil service of permanent state employees recruited on
‘merit’ (normally via special competitive examinations or on the basis
of professional or academic qualifications). Their role will vary from
country to country. The British Civil Service is relatively unusual
in its degree of unity with a stress on ‘generalist’ administrators
who may move from department to department. In France and the
United States, for instance, there is a greater tendency to recruit say
agronomists for the Agriculture Department, accountants for the
Audit Department and so on.
It is also usual for modern executives to have some rule-making
powers – ‘delegated legislation’ in the UK, ‘decrees’ in some con-
tinental European systems. These would normally cover detailed
technical matters like the construction and use of regulations for
motor vehicles, or the approving of by-laws by local authorities. As
well as sponsoring a legislative programme, the executive often has a
veto through a requirement that the head of state must sign each law
for it to be valid.
The legislature
Legislatures in virtually all systems not only have a large formal role
in making laws, but also have powers to investigate and, to some
degree, control or influence the executive. A major element in this is
usually the need for annual financial revenues and expenditures to be
approved.
All legislatures work through a committee system – the more
effective the legislature the stronger and more complex this tends to
be. They usually also work through some variant of the UK system
of three ‘Readings’ of proposed legislation (‘Bills’) in full session,
and a committee stage. In many legislatures, but not usually in
Westminster-style parliaments, the committee stage of the process is
the most significant and takes place before the main debates in
permanent specialised committees. In the Westminster model the
committee stage usually takes place in specially set up (‘ad hoc’) so-
called ‘Standing Committees’, whilst separate ‘Select Committees’
review areas of administration and finance.
DEMOCRACY 177