Title: Ministerial responsibility to the parliament: a comparative study of the legal systems in Germany and Afghanistan

Authors: Abdul Salim Amin; Jakob Efe

Addresses: Im Neuenheimer Feld 535, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany ' Im Neuenheimer Feld 535, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Abstract: This article compares the legal systems of Germany and Afghanistan with regard to the responsibility of individual ministers to the parliament. Ministerial responsibility has strong democratic basis in the constitutions of both countries, albeit with different enforcement mechanisms, such as interpellation, citation and inquiry, and sanctions against a minister. The legal system of Germany exhibits advanced measures of interpellation and inquiry that serve members of the parliament in terms of gaining accurate information, whereas Afghanistan relies on simple means of the above control measures. The Afghan parliament, on the other hand, is equipped with a strong sanctioning instrument against a minister, i.e., the vote of no-confidence. Nevertheless, the clarity of this sanction within the relevant legal provision is often questionable. This study tends to point out such shortcomings and to draw lessons from the comparison.

Keywords: ministerial responsibility; democratic principle; departmental principle; control rights; liability; accountability; citation; interpellation; inquiry; sanction; vote of no-confidence; Germany; Afghanistan; responsibility to parliament.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHRCS.2016.081071

International Journal of Human Rights and Constitutional Studies, 2016 Vol.4 No.4, pp.330 - 350

Received: 01 Sep 2016
Accepted: 04 Sep 2016
Published online: 19 Dec 2016 *

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