Multicameralism

Nations with a bicameral legislature.

Nations with a unicameral legislature and an advisory body.

Nations with a unicameral legislature.

Nations with no legislature.

Data not available.

In contrast tounicameralism,andbicameralism,multicameralismis the condition in which alegislatureis divided into more than two deliberative assemblies, which are commonly called "chambers" or "houses".This usually includestricameralismwith three chambers, but can also describe a system with any amount more. The word "multicameral" can also relate in other ways to its literal meaning of "many chambered" with use in science or biology.

Prevalence

Approximately half of the world's sovereign states are unicameral, and newer democracies and more recent constitutions are more often unicameral than not. More specifically many countries have switched to unicameralism whereas the opposite is rare. Nevertheless, many currentparliamentsandcongressesstill have a multicameral (usually bicameral) structure, which some claim provides multiple perspectives and a form ofseparation of powerswithin the legislature.

History

Many societies in Medieval Europe had quasi-legislative assemblies in the form of theEstates of the Realm,typified bythose of France.Typically, this body had three chambers representing the three grand divisions of society; the clergy, nobles, and commoners; however, this was not universally the rule;MedievalScandinaviandeliberative assembliestraditionally had four estates: thenobility,theclergy,theburghers,and thepeasants.TheSwedishandFinnishRiksdag of the Estatessurvived the longest of these bodies, having four separate legislative houses. Sweden abandoned its four-chamber parliament in 1866, transitioning to a bicameralRiksdagfor more than a century before moving to today’s unicameral assembly in 1974 (seeHistory of the Riksdag).

When theGrand Duchy of Finlandwas seized by Russia from Sweden, the four-chamberedDiet of Finland,of identical structure to the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates, was established. It continued to legislate for Finland until 1906, being the only ancient legislature to survive to the 20th century while maintaining the traditional estates. In that year, the Diet’s four ancient chambers were disbanded and replaced by the modern unicameralParliament of Finland.

TheParliament of Englanddeveloped in the opposite direction, merging the two aristocratic estates into theHouse of Lords,the archetypalupper house,leaving theHouse of Commonsas the electivelower house;in time, the English and later British parliaments became the standard model on which the modern bicameral legislature is based.

Modern multicameralism

Of the ancient assemblies in Europe, only Finland’s survived to see the 20th century. As the armies ofRevolutionary Franceconquered much of Europe in the name ofliberalismandpopular sovereignty,most countries’ newly established or re-established legislative assemblies were structured after either the (originally) unicameral FrenchNational Assemblyor the bicameralBritish Parliament.Since the 19th century, tricameral legislatures have been a rare constitutional curiosity, with the overwhelming majority of assemblies having one or two chambers.

Yugoslavia

TheFederal Assembly of Yugoslaviaoriginally had five chambers. AfterYugoslaviaadopted anew constitution in 1963,its legislature was restructured into four chambers each representing the various sectors of Yugoslav society with an additional chamber representing the general population.The Federal Assembly was the only legislature anywhere with five chambers, and a constitutional amendment added a sixth component described as either a chamber or sub-chamber.Yugoslavia adopted yetanother constitution in 1974,abolishing the Federal Assembly and replacing it with a bicameral legislature.

South Africa

Perhaps the best-known multicameral assembly in modern times is theTricameral Parliamentof the waning days of Apartheid South Africa; established in an effort to stabilize the collapsingApartheidsystem, it was intended to give limited representation to the country’sCape ColouredandIndianpopulations to stabilize white-minority rule. The assembly failed to stem calls foruniversal suffrage,and was tremendously unpopular with the non-white population. Whenapartheid was abolished,the Tricameral Parliament disappeared with it, replaced with today’sbicameral assembly.

Benefits

Proponents of multicameral legislatures hold that multiple legislative chambers offer the opportunity to re-debate and correct errors in either chamber in parallel, and in some cases to introduce legislation in either chamber.Advocates of multicameralism also contend that multiple legislative chambers are (best) able to represent the various important sectors of society (such as culturally or linguistically distinct, geographically different or similarly interested populations that comprise a country - i.e. the variousstatesof theUnited States of AmericaorprovincesofCanada,each with their own geographical borders, subcultures, interests and even languages i.e.English,French,Spanish), which may not be able to be adequately represented by a singular legislative body. Supporters of multicameralism also posit that a critical weakness of a unicameral system can be a potentiallack of restrainton themajority(mob rule) and incompatibility with the separation of powers between thelegislativeandexecutivebranches of government, particularly noticeable inparliamentary systemswhere the leaders of the parliamentary majority also dominate theexecutive.

See also

• Federalism
• Polycentric law