Bicameralism

Bicameralism is one of the characteristics that a political system can present. That, when it has two legislative chambers. The Upper House, known as the Senate; and the Lower House, known as the Congress. Both form the Parliament.

A political system is bicameral when it has two chambers. That is, the legislative power is shared between the Senate, which is the territorial chamber and has some exclusive powers; and Congress, which is the main legislative chamber.

What is a legislative chamber?

Before continuing with the description of the bicameral nature of a system, we must define what we mean when we speak of a legislative chamber.

Legislative chamber refers to the place where the legislative power exercises its functions. The Legislative Power, in democracies, is elected by the citizens, both in the parliamentary system and in the presidential system.

Elected representatives are divided into a chamber if the system is unicameral; or in two, if the system is bicameral. In it, those elected perform the functions that the Constitution, or relevant norm, confers on them, always related to the legislation of the country.

Characteristics of Bicameralism

The characteristics of a bicameral system are as follows:

• Existence of two chambers : The Legislative Power is divided in two, the Lower Chamber, which is the Congress; and the Upper House, the Senate.
• The lower house is usually responsible for initiating and passing laws. The Upper House of territorial issues, as well as international treaties.
• There is more control : Some powers and decisions are shared, which requires consensus and a majority of both chambers.
• Representation of the entire territory : Each region or province contributes with the same number of representatives, giving equal extension of the territory. This ensures that the larger provinces do not abuse the less populated ones.
• It is typical of federal states In federal states, in which political power is distributed among the different territories that make up the nation, the existence of Bicameralism is more necessary. Also in unitary but highly decentralized countries.

Types of bicameralism

A bicameral system can be divided into two main types:

• Symmetrical bicameralism : This is characterized by having an equitable distribution between the two chambers, the territorial and that of the representatives. Both have notorious power and need to agree to impose or execute certain measures. As a prominent example we find the United States. The Senate represents the union of all states and was endowed with powers similar to those of Congress; indeed, it has such powers as approving government appointments; the legislative veto; or the ability to decide on the federal budget.
• Asymmetric bicameralism : In this case, the Senate has a clearly unfavorable position in relation to Congress. The Upper House was created to have real powers, but sometimes, in practice, this does not happen.The Senate has some powers, such as approving some territorial decisions; of international treaties; or the legislative veto of Congress. In practice, the veto can be overridden, and the law passed by skipping the upper house.