A government system is the whole set of rules and institutions that shape the legal and political units over a territory (usually a country) and the population within.
Presidentialism:
A presidentialist system consists of a president (executive), a judicial branch and a legislative branch. The president is the head of government and is essentially popularly elected to a fixed term. There is executive/legislative deadlock, meaning that there are restrictions as there are divisions of power. Therefore, a greater likelihood exists that the head of government will have limited administrative and party experience.
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln carved at the Mount Rushmore, US (Left) White House of the United States of America (Right).
Parliamentarism:
The Prime Minister is the head of government, he or she is selected by the legislature and subsequently depends upon the ongoing confidence of the legislature for remaining in office. Since the legitimacy of the ministry depends upon the confidence of the parliament, the period of mandate is alterable, meaning that elections can be called at anytime.
The Canadian parliament and the British parliament.
The legislative branch of the parliamentary system vs. the presidential system may either be unicameral or bicameral.
Nations with a bicameral legislature
Nations with a unicameral legislature
Nations with a unicameral legislature and an advisory body
Nations with no legislature
Basic differences between parliamentarism and presidentialism.
| Presidential system | Parliamentary system |
|---|---|
| President | Prime minister |
| Chosen by popular vote | Chosen by the parliament |
| Elected for a fixed time period | Elections can be called at anytime |
| Head of government and state | Only head of government |
| Weaknesses | Weaknesses |
| Difficulty handling crisis - less flexible | |
| The president has greater possibility of gridlock/mobilism between the executive and legislative | A PM can weaken democracy faster than a president. |
| It is easier to elect outsiders with no experience. |
Federalism:
In a genuine democratic federation there is a compound sovereign state in which at least two (2) governmental units, the federal and the regional, ejoy constitutionally separate competencies.
Both the federal and regional governments are empowered to deal directly with citizens. So, citizens have the power and the responsibility to directly elect some components of the federal and/or regional governments. As well, the federal government is not allowed to to alter the horizontal division of powers.
A federation implies a condified and written constitution, normally acompained at the federal level by the supreme court, accompanied by a bicameral legislature and differences between the governmental tiers. The United Kingdom is often times confused and can be seen as a confederation. However, it is not as it does not have a written constitution and it has a weak supreme court.
Federations can be multi-national/multi-ethnic or mononational.
Multi-national/ multi-ethnic
The boundaries of the internal units are usually drawn and minorities control at least some of them.
Switzerland was the first federation established in 1848 followed by Canada, established in 1867.
(Fun fact: The speech of nationalism in Canada is based on diversity and pluralism. Canada is very proud of being a diverse nation, since more than half of its citizens are immigrants.)
Mononational
The intention behind national federalism is nation building and the elimination of internal national (and perhaps ethnic) differences.
The United States is the founding nation of the mononational federalism.
Constitutional Monarchy:
It consists of a democracy where the monarch (the Queen) exercises as a symbol or figurehead for the country. She is limited by the rule of law. The monarch is not allowed/abled to make any decisions by herself, but she is consulted for decision making often times. The legislature holds power apart from the monarch and there are constitutional rights.
If you would like to read more about government systems:
- Mainwaring, Scott. “Presidentialism, Multipartism, and Democracy: The Difficult Combination”. Comparative Political Studies. (1993) 26. For more information visit this link.
- John McGarry and Brendan O’Leary. “Federation as a Method of Ethnic Conflict Regulation”. (2004) Forum of Federations. For more information visit this link
- Robert Elgie. “A Fresh Look at Semi-presidentialism: Variations on a Theme” Journal of Democracy, Vol 16, No. 3, July 2005, pp. 98-112. For more information visit this link
