Constitutional crisis (original) (raw)
A constitutional crisis is a situation in which separate parties of a government disagree over who has the authority to carry out various acts.
A constitutional crisis can lead to government paralysis, collapse, or civil war.
Famous Constitutional Crises
- The secession of the southern US states prior to the American Civil War.
- The 1973-74 Watergate scandal in the United States. Resulted in the first ever resignation of an American president, and the subsequent succession of America's first ever un-elected president.
- 1975 parliamentary dispute in Australia that saw Prime Minister Gough Whitlam get fired by the nation's normally apolitical Governor General.
- 2002 succession crisis in Argentina. Following a massive economic meltdown, Argentina's president resigned, followed by a mass of cabinet members, leading five different men to reluctantly assume the presidency for extremely brief periods over the course of three weeks.