Parliament

Abstract

Once sworn in by the Queen, the Dutch Cabinet is dependent for its survival on the continued confidence of a majority in the States-General, the bicameral Parliament of the Netherlands. If the fact that Parliament can dismiss a government is to be taken as the defining factor for a parliamentary system, then the Netherlands must be placed in this category. Nevertheless, there are features of the Dutch Constitution which are more characteristic of presidential systems than parliamentary systems. In discussions among Dutch constitutional experts and parliamentary historians, the focus is on the question of whether the relationship between the Crown and the States-General is ‘monistic’ or ‘dualistic’. ‘Monism’ refers to the absence of a clear distinction between Parliament and Cabinet, as one would expect in a parliamentary system, whereas ‘dualism’ is meant to describe the situation in which government and Parliament have distinctive roles and responsibilities, more akin to what one would find in a presidential system.