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responsible governmentThe term responsible government is often used to describe the
relationship between the
government
—the
premier
and other
ministers
—and the
legislative assembly
in British style
parliamentary systems
.
It refers to the fact that the political executive—the
premier and ministers—are chosen from and accountable
to an elected parliament. In this respect it is a
synonym for
parliamentary government
.
Responsible government also suggests that ministers are
individually and collectively responsible to parliament for the
actions of government. This is true in a broad
sense—the government will be held accountable for its
actions at the next
general election
—but it
is less true if it implies that ministers will be held to account
for their actions by parliament. The existence of
disciplined political
parties
has meant that ministers can usually
escape punishment for reckless or incompetent actions by themselves
or their departments by blaming an advisor or a public
servant. Punishment is only meted out to ministers if
the premier (or prime minister) assesses that the minister has
become a political liability to the government as a
whole. Note that governments are more sensitive to
parliamentary criticism and ministers are more likely to be forced
into resignation if the government is a
minority government
.
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