Minor correction: Czechoslovakia was already federal since the late 1960s, as a concession after the Soviet invasion of 1968 and subsequent occupation. When Czechoslovakia returned to democracy in 1990, it retained the existing federal system (with a few democratic reforms, of course) until the dissolution in 1993.
@@Ciceroni1 No problem. I would also have liked if you had spent a bit more time on the voting system of the interwar Czechoslovak Republic. It was quite interesting and I think it should have been included (though I understand you're focusing on the absolute basics in this video).
Could you do a video on how bicameral systems came to be and how upper houses have been and are transforming. It's interesting how in some countries like the UK the upper house is till very much the check on democratic power as it was intended hundreds of years ago, whereas in other countries like Belgium is has evolved into a check for regional voices on the national democracy. Or how in Ireland the upper house has many elements of a meritocracy, with certain seats going to the country's universities for example.
You raise some good questions. We are indeed planning on making a video on these differences. And in addition to the (reasons behind the) differences of bicameral systems, why some countries have multiple chambers while others don't.
Didn't know this channel was slovak! Great video, guys! Love from Serbia🇸🇰❤️🇷🇸 (I'm not gonna atempt to write is Slovak, as my understanding is really basic)
We're not, but we plan on making videos on all national elections with help of locals. Hopefully in local languages as well like with the two versions of the Slovak video :)
Haha yeah we were quiet for a while. Planning to do some more videos this year so stay tuned. Among which some other videos on democracies and elections :)
Before the war they were already thinking how to simplify the system. In 1938 (with an increasing authoritarian regime) a new Chamber of the Slovak Republic was established. Even though it was established through non-democratic means, it became the highest legislative body. After the war they simply kept and kept on reforming this system instead of going back to the Austrio-Hungarian system with a senate.
Is a video on Croatia coming out? Since we are having an election this year. Also I must add, you make some great stuff. I hope you continue making these videos.
Thank you for your kind words! We are indeed planning to make a video about Croatian democracy before the elections this year. Looking forward to seeing your thoughts on that video then :)
7:00 America has a Senate and a House of Representatives both of them together are referred as congress. Also i find it very interesting how the national council doesnt directly make laws and only approves of them. I wonder how that changes politics there
Ai, thanks for pointing that out. Should have noticed that... The members of the National Council have the right of initiative, so they can actually propose new laws. Each of these proposals then has to be accepted by the National Council as a whole
A little detail we left out for simplification purposes, but nice that you spot it:) You are right that from 1969 onwards, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was officially a federal republic. However with the power centralised with the communist party, it was more of a formality than anything else. In 1990 it reformed into a new federal republic.
Thanks! I understand you want to know more about the parties, but giving an overview of the current parties (and their programmes) is rather difficult to do in a neutral and objective way.
In Romania for example it would be difficult to give an overview, because the two largest parties who dominated the country for decades, say one thing and do something else. Their real progam is corruption. One is Social Democrats but they never cared about social issues, they just tried to crash democracy and gain absolute power. (They aren't really pro EU.) Since December 2019 the right wing Liberals try the same. At least they call themselves right wing and they are. The left electorate never had the choice whom to vote.
They are basically lost. The seats are divided among all parties that reached the threshold based on their percentages. For example, the winning party had about 25% of all votes, but about 35% of the votes after the parties that didn’t reach the threshold are taken out of the game. So they get about 35% of the seats.
@@nolifeispower494 however, If you are a legitimate Slovak voter and you choose not to vote, your vote is not excluded. After all the votes have been counted, your vote goes to the winning party, whoever that is. Yes, it doesnt help the party to pass, cuz they already won, however it helps them get more seats in the parliament. Thats why we try to persuade everybody to go and vote so that their vote isnt wasted on a party they would never choose.
Small mistake : The lower house of the legislative branch of the American federal government is known as the “House of Representatives”, Congress is the name of the Bicameral entity as a whole.
@@Ciceroni1 That's fair. I brought up my point in an admittedly annoying way just to bring the point up. But anyways, I'm referring to what can be better called the period of democratic regression that lasted from 1994-1998 during the premiership of Vladimír Mečiar. I just figured his historical legacy would be quite considerable to modern Slovak democracy. Thoughts?
I fully agree, it certainly adds to the legacy, however it didn't lead to direct changes to the system itself (e.g. how to vote, government bodies) so it didn't make the cut. Sadly we can't put everything into a video such as this. We also could have gone into much more detail in the rest of the history. The communist times for example has plenty of interesting depth we missed out on. That being said, it is a very interesting time in Slovakian history and might even warrant a separate video. What do you think?
Ciceroni Okay, that makes complete sense! Yeah, I’d love to see a video on that, especially given the growing popularity of radical right wing Slovak politicians who use his legacy, as well as Mečiar’s own return to politics
Thank you but please stop saying Czechoslovakian, it is Czechoslovak, or Slovakian, it is Slovak (Republic, language, citizenship...) and the people are Slovaks not Slovakians. The people who lived in Czechoslovakia (a federation state of Czechs and Slovaks) were Czechs and Slovaks. Not Czechoslovaks. Sure, they had Czechoslovak citizenship, but in the lands of modern day Slovakia there were mostly ethnic Slovaks who spoke Slovak language, and in the lands of modern day Czechia there were mostly ethnic Czechs who spoke Czech language. When somebody says there were Czechoslovaks, he/she makes it sound as if it was one thing when in fact it was a federation of two things. Many peolple think people in Czechoslovakia spoke Czech only and Slovaks are basically Czechs who split from them. Thats why using correct terms is important because some people from the west who have no idea about this, might assume false information
Thanks for pointing it out. We were quite careful not to use the wrong terms here, so I hope we didn't (too often). BTW did you see we made the same video in Slovak as well?:) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-QwiH4qDKFhQ.html
you're 30 now so it's basically a50:50 coin-flip that you are going to have a family or not. it's better to spend the next 40 years watching people that love you learn and grow than it is regretting you never had that
Could you do Germany next? I think that'd be interesting, considering how many quirks Germany parliamentary democracy has. Such as the President and Chancellor
Germany is definitely interesting. We’re working on a few videos simultaneously, including Germany. However, we’ll prioritise the countries that have elections coming up in 2020. So you might have to wait a bit longer for the German version.
This seems like an interesting cross between alot of ideas... Why is the premier translated as prime minister? Is that just something I didn't know about? I thought premier and prime minister refer to different things in general, at least in the English language. @7:10, that's not entirely correct. For some reason or another, we (usually) refer to members of the House of Representatives as Congresspersons/man/woman, not Representatives. That's why there is a misconception that the House of Reps is Congress, even though Congress is the proper name for the both houses/chambers. Its most correct as a whole to say House of Representatives and Representatives, and leave Congress and Congressperson to refer to both houses/chambers and members of both houses/chambers. Senators, (members of the Senate), won't like if you call them that because they serve longer terms, are (supposedly) more prestigious. Come on, do any of you people living in the USA actually know who your Senators are? Also the Courts?
In most countries Premier and Prime Minister are interchangeable titles. In Slovakia they refer to him (among other titles) as the Premier. The English translation of Prime Minister seems to cover this the best. I believe the British system uses Premier more for the leader of overseas territories. Thanks for pointing out the mistake on Congress etc. Sadly we overlooked this before we published it…
@@Ciceroni1 I don't blame you at all though, I found that really weird, especially considering that the US Constitution is quite clear. Also I find saying the word Representative is less awkward than saying Congressman/woman/person and is more direct. Tells you the function rather than the form.
The us senate job is to live up to the word senax or old man they create legislation that may be beneficial for the nation long term its the reason why they don't get the power of the purse that goes to the house of representatives since they are on a shorter election cycle and are more easily influenced by people.
Sadly Slovakia is not the only country with that problem. Best thing to do is vote for good people you trust and support those fighting against corruption.