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Re: OT: For information only !

From:Nik Taylor <yonjuuni@...>
Date:Saturday, June 19, 2004, 1:44
Christophe Grandsire wrote:
> > En réponse à Tristan Mc Leay : > > >No... the Congress is a congress. There's two distinct systems: the > >Parliamentary system, which has parliaments, as used by Britain and most > >Commonwealth countries, and the Presedential system, which has > >congresses as used by America and various other countries... I think the > >difference is that the executive is kept separate from the legislature > >in one and mixed in with the other, but it could be that I'm focussing > >on the wrong distinction... > > Well, as Joe said, France is a presidential system and has a parliament. My > understanding is that "congress" and "parliament" are just two different > words for the same thing: "a legislative body composed of two houses". > Unless someone can prove me that the American Congress is not composed of a > Senate and a House of Representatives (as I've been taught), I will > consider those two terms as referring to the same thing. It's not the first > time Americans feel the way to name things differently from other people :) .
I think the difference is largely historic. Parliaments were created by already-established governments, generally monarchies, whereas congresses were created by states coming together, either permanently, as in the case of the US Congress, or temporarily, as in teh Congress of Vienna.

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John Cowan <cowan@...>