Collective responsibility is a principle which states that all members of the cabinet are collectively accountable or responsible for all decisions and actions taken by the cabinet. It also means that members of the cabinet are expected to publicly support all governmental decisions made in cabinet, even if they do not privately agree with them. The cabinet is responsible collectively to the parliament, and must present and defend their actions and policies in unison. All ministers must be prepared to support and defend the policies of the government. A minister who is not ready to accept, support and defend the actions and policies of government must resign his ministerial appointment, because members of the cabinet share the blame as a body for any maladministration. If the parliament passes a vote of no confidence on the cabinet, which means that the cabinet has failed, all the members of the cabinet including the Prime-minister must resign.
Merits of Collective Responsibility
1. Collective responsibility makes members of a cabinet to work as a team and speak with one voice.
2. Collective responsibility prevent shift of blames.
3. It compels the ministers to be careful.
4. It leads to the settlement of inter-ministerial disputes at the cabinet level instead of at the floor of the parliament.
5. Collective responsibility ensures stability of government.
Demerits of Collective Responsibility
1. Collective responsibility does not allow a minister or his ministry to be assesses individually.
2. It makes it difficult for the blunders of a minister to be exposed and criticised in the parliament.
3. Ministers hide under/behind it to commit atrocities since they cannot be judged individually.
4. It does not allow members of the parliament to demand information about a single minister.
5. It encourages collective sharing of blames and praises of individual members of the cabinet.
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