ABP Ramadan Activities

Lecture by Dr.Douglas Thornton

On Tuesday, October 11th, the Academic Bridge Program of Qatar Foundation hosted a guest lecture by Dr. Douglas Thornton, professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University-Qatar.
Dr. Thornton received all his academic degrees, including a Ph.D., from Texas A&M. He taught at Rice University briefly before joining the faculty at Texas A&M. His specialty is comparative politics with regard to Latin American countries. This is Dr. Thornton's second year in Qatar where he teaches American National Government and Politics of Global Inequality at TAMUQ.
His Tuesday lecture was entitled "Presidential and Parliamentary Patterns of Government", a topic increasingly of interest to young Qataris in view of the ongoing process of democratization in the country. Professor Thornton briefly discussed the division of legislative and executive powers in the two systems of democratic governance, explaining basic differences between them as well as their advantages and weaknesses.

According to the speaker, although the parliamentary system of government, with its concentration of legislative and executive power in one body, ensures clear lines of responsibility, it can also result in political instability and inaction. These can be brought about by the government's inability to retain the confidence of parliament which may refuse to endorse its policies or pass its laws.

A new round of elections must then be called for and the whole political process is restarted from scratch. Professor Thornton pointed out that governments in some countries have been rendered completely ineffective due to that particular feature of the parliamentary system.

"A consistent majority in parliament is necessary for stability", he said, quoting the example of the UK and its Labour government.

On the other hand, the presidential system operating on the basis of separate legislative and executive powers creates a potentially confusing situation for voters unable to attribute responsibility for policy failures or successes to a particular body. The president and the legislative body will often blame each other for the failure of a policy or, conversely, will expect political rewards for the other's successes.

This in turn makes it more difficult for people to make an informed choice while voting for the next leader.

The lecture met with a great deal of interest among the ABP audience. Ali Al Ansari, vice-president of the ABP Student Association, and Sahar Saad, an ABP student, both commented on its interesting content and accessible format.

It was the second such address in the University Lecture series -- a course designed specifically to prepare the Academic Bridge Program students for the intellectual challenges of western colleges where most of them plan to study. The University Lecture course is conducted by the ABP faculty in cooperation with renowned professors from Education City universities. The first lecture (27.09), entitled "The Invisible Hand and the Price of Oil", was delivered by Georgetown University's Professor Oweiss, who famously coined the term "petrodollars" over 30 years ago.