Re: OT: For information only !

From:    Joe <joe@...>
> > I take the difference to be in whether there is a separate executive
> > branch.  Parliamentary systems choose the executive; congressional
> > systems don't.  ("Executive" here excludes any purely figurehead
> > head-of-state.)
>
> But as I've said already, France doesn't obey this rule.  The US is the
> only state that (to my knowledge) claims to have a 'Congress' rather
> than a Parliament.
Not so:  there are half a dozen Latin American nations (at least)
whose legislature is termed "Congress" (or the equivalent thereof).

> I think Nik's right in that the difference is purely
> historical.  I'd assume that the US Congress was named after the
> Continental Congresses  - Which evolved from a coming together of heads
> of states, to an appointed leigslative body, again representing the
> states(Under the Articles of Confederation), to a democratic legislative
> body(under the US constitution).  But, it's still a Parliament.
No... as I tried to explain in one of my other posts, these terms
have purely arbitrary historical associations based on local conditions.
Please let's not confuse the terms that people use for the institutions
that people work in.

 =========================================================================
Thomas Wier	       "I find it useful to meet my subjects personally,
Dept. of Linguistics    because our secret police don't get it right
University of Chicago   half the time." -- octogenarian Sheikh Zayed of
1010 E. 59th Street     Abu Dhabi, to a French reporter.
Chicago, IL 60637