Re: OT: For information only !

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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