Legislatures are a relatively new branch of power, as compared to the executive one. The prime function of the legislature is law-making, this is why the legislative bodies of power are usually composed of the nation’s representatives that are able to voice the needs of the whole country with the entire multitude of groups that constitute the nation’s population. Depending on the level of democracy pursued in a particular country, the functions and actual powers of legislature vary considerably, i.e. legislative bodies of power will exercise completely different authority in democratic, totalitarian and authoritarian countries:
“The role and function of the legislature are determined by the type of the political system, i.e. whether that system is democratic, authoritarian or totalitarian. It is significant that regardless of the character of a regime, nearly all modern nation-states find it necessary to maintain some form of representative assembly, either as an effective law-making body or as a symbol of government legitimacy. Even in the most regressive regimes, the legislature contributes to the formal proclamation of the law by lending popular endorsement to the law-making initiatives of the executive”
The present quotation explains why even authoritarian regimes (in which the legislative power is actually equal to the will of the executive) or totalitarian regimes (in which the ruling party is the sole possessor of political power in the state) need a representative (or a seemingly representative) body of legislative power. Every nation needs at least an illusion of participating in the formation of the national policy – in another way the possibility of public protest or international dissatisfaction is possible.
In case a legislative assembly function (no matter on who the final decision depends), it is always possible to prove the political power’s legitimacy, which is one of the key preconditions of this power’s existence. A good example of a formal legislative body is the Chinese legislative organ that consists of about 3,000 members, which makes it a too large and ineffective body of legislative power but creates a vision of vast public representation and participation in Chinese political affairs.