Parliamentary vs. Presidential
I recently visited Nuuk, the capitol city of Greenland and was there on election day, November 1, 2022. As I watched people pour into polling places (tents located near the city center), it reminded me of how travelling to another country can lead to introspection about one’s own country. In this case, I started thinking about how woefully uninformed I am about the differences between parliamentary and two dominant party systems of government. Lucky for me, my colleague and research partner Paula teaches policy in the University of Southern Maine School of Social Work. She is great at explaining the pros and cons of each system, helping me to understand the implications of two party (Presidents) vs. parliamentary (Prime Minister).
Despite watching all four seasons (twice) of Borgen, the Netflix drama about Danish politics, I’m still lacking in my knowledge of parliamentary systems. But, I’m planning to learn more for many reasons, one of them being that without at least a rudimentary knowledge of world political systems, my climate activism doesn’t pass the straight face test. I hope to go to the United Nations COP 28, “Conference of the Parties” next year, which is a gathering of world leaders to discuss climate solutions. I’ve begun to prepare for this by studying the complexities of crafting international agreements on climate adaptation and mitigation. This year climate talks include discussion of “loss and damage” financing where developed nations will assist low-income countries in addressing the consequences of climate change.
As it turns out, Greenland elected two representatives to the Danish Parliament, one from the IA party (Inuit Ataqatigiit) and one from the Siumut party. Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, and has strong leanings toward self-determination. This sometimes creates tension on the international front, over which Denmark has authority. Some Danes are concerned about the influence of Greenland’s two seats, which even though a small minority, still influence parliamentary results. At home in the US, the red wave didn’t quite materialize, which allows some of us to breathe a little easier, but there are core issues, including climate concerns, that are far from being resolved. My hope is that, regardless of which political systems are at play, world leaders will push beyond platitudes at this year’s COP 27 in Egypt. However, that’s a topic for another post. In the meantime, back to my studies on parliamentary vs. presidential systems!
