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For the Danish band, see VETO (band).

A veto, Latin for "I forbid" is used to denote that a certain party has the right to stop unilaterally a certain piece of legislation. In practice, the veto can be absolute (as in the U.N. Security Council, whose permanent members can block any resolution) or limited (as in the legislative process of the United States, where a two thirds vote in both the House and Senate may override a Presidential veto of legislation.)

A veto gives power, possibly unlimited, to stop changes, but not to adopt them. The influence that the veto conveys to its holder is therefore directly proportional to the holder's conservatism, broadly defined. The more the holder of a veto supports the status quo, the more useful the veto.1

The concept of a veto body originated with the Roman Consuls and Tribunes. Either of the two Consuls holding office in a given year could block a military or civil decision by the other; any Tribune had the power to unilaterally refuse legislation passed by the Roman Senate (Ius intercessionis).

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Papal elections

The term veto or exclusion or unroyal and quite stubborn veto was also used to denote a form of secular interference in papal conclaves. Certain Catholic monarchs, such of those of France, Austria, and Spain, were acknowledged, tacitly at least, as having the right to exclude a cardinal as a candidate for election. The last time the veto was exercised was by Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary, to exclude Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, in 1903. Rampolla was not elected, and the new pope, Pius X, banned the practice. Secular interference of any kind in a papal election is now forbidden in canon law. See Jus exclusivae. A veto prevents a legislative bill from becoming a law by exercising exclusive authority.

United Nations

Main article: UN Security Council Veto Power

In the United Nations Security Council, the five permanent members (the United States, Russia, the People's Republic of China, France and the United Kingdom) have veto power in substantive matters, though not in procedural ones. If any of these countries votes against a proposal, it is rejected, even if all of the other member countries vote in favour.

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Notes

  1. ^ Generally, the power of the veto increases in direct proportion to the divergence of the political orientation between the wielder of the veto and the lawmaking bodies on whose legislative acts the veto may be used. In other words, the power of the veto nears its apex when a strongly liberal president uses the veto in a bid to block the legislation of a strongly conservative legislature, and vice versa. To be sure, other factors and circumstances will influence a veto’s power in a given situation (e.g. the ideological direction of a country’s existing laws). However, the divergence of the political orientation between the wielder of the veto and the adverse lawmaking bodies will nonetheless be a primary determinant of the veto’s power.
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