In countries with a presidential regime, the president of the country

In countries with a presidential regime, the president
of the country has a leading and a dominant role in the political structure, as
in the case of a parliamentary regime, we can see the name of this form of
government. There are also super and hyper presidential forms of governments.
These modes are popular mainly in Africa, where the president concentrates in
his hands almost all the power, being in fact the monarch. Many political
analysts[1]
and politicians use Russia as an example to having the super presidential type
of governing, which shows that the spread of this form is becoming popular not
only in Africa but also in other parts of the world.

The presidential system deduces a considerable power
of the president, which is limited in accordance with the system of checks and
balances. For example, the president cannot dissolve parliament, otherwise it
would undertake the complete focus of power in his hands as the chief executive
and the absolute omnipotence that does not correspond to the basic principles
of democracy – the separation of powers. The dependence of government and
therefore the head of the government, i.e. the president, by the parliament in
the budget relations is well known. Since the members of the legislature cannot
directly influence the composition of the executive body, its activities and
the exchange rate, they are forced to do it indirectly through the formal
approval and adoption of the government budget.

In the US, the people elect the president by indirect
elections. This means that the citizens of the country selected special
representatives from each state (the Electoral College) whose amount depends on
the number of members of Congress from that state. Further, these
representatives vote for a particular presidential candidate. He is elected for
4 years with the possibility of re-election for another term. There is the
vice-president on the ballot together with the president, that is, the electors
vote directly for two people – the head of state and his deputy. The Vice-President
is formally the head of the upper house of parliament – the Senate and he is
the Acting President in special circumstances (e.g. disability). He replaces
the President in the event of the death, removal from office or retirement. The
president is the commander in chief of the Army and US Navy. He heads the
executive branch and collects US Cabinet – executive body, which includes the
heads of all the ministries of the country (federal executive departments), the
President, Vice President, head of the White House and some other officials. The
powers of the head of state, in addition to the above, are fairly broad. He
represents the country internationally, appoints federal judges, grants
pardons, may convene an extraordinary session of the Congress, has
extraordinary powers in crisis situations, has the right of legislative
initiative, issues orders that have the force of law, presents budget to
parliament, may impose a veto on laws passed by the Parliament as well as many
other powers.

There is no government, as a single executive body, it
is presented in the form of the President, Vice-President, Cabinet and related
ministries, the federal government, US corporations and independent agencies.
The ministers (Secretaries) may appointed for the post Head of State with the
approval of parliament – the US Congress. All ministers are to the president’s
office. It is headed by the President, who can send Secretaries to resign. All
subjects of the executive branch are responsible only to him, they are not accountable
to Congress. The government connected to the Parliament by budget, which
Parliament must approve, thereby indirectly controlling the executive power in
the country.

The Parliament of the United States consists of two
chambers: the top (House of Representatives) and the bottom (US Senate). Elections
to both chambers are made by direct vote. The President cannot dissolve the
parliament, and as already mentioned, Congress cannot affect to the executive
branch directly, so it remains for adoption of the budget, submitted by the
President. It can also make a vote of no confidence in the government, but this
does not entail its resignation. However, members of Congress can initiate the
procedure of impeachment of the president, but only in exceptional situations,
such as a betrayal of the United States president, committing an especially
grave crime and some others. Yet Parliament has a lot of powers, many of which
in some way comes to money.

It determines taxes, fees, excises and removes them to
borrow money in the US credit, regulates trade relations, is responsible for
the emission of money, declare war, forms and contains the army and navy, and,
of course, make the laws. He has also other functions, but they are less
interesting in this work. We are not going to dwell on the legal system,
because it does not play such a big role. We will only say that the federal
judges of the Supreme Court appointed by the President and all inferior courts
established by Congress.

United States is a typical representative of the
country with a presidential form of government. President’s power is great, but
it is limited to certain scope: the budget is adopted only by the Congress, the
right to the dissolution is absent for the head of state. This system operates
in the United States clearly and consistently for the past several centuries,
not wanting to transform into a super-presidential form unlike many other
countries.

The main role of a parliamentary republic in the whole
system of power reserved to the Parliament. The head of the parliamentary form
of government (Prime Minister, the Chancellor, the Minister-President and
others) and his cabinet are related confidence of the Legislative Assembly and
may remove from office by a parliamentary vote of no confidence or censure
resolution. In a parliamentary system, the prime ministers are elected by the
Parliament (United Kingdom, Germany and Japan). Parliamentary system is mirror
opposite of the presidential. The government is politically responsible to
Parliament, there is no national elections institute of senior officials.

All these features make the parliamentary republic
extremely similar to another form of government – a constitutional monarchy, or
rather, to a parliamentary monarchy. These two forms can be regarded as
identical, if we exclude from consideration only the question of formation of
the head of state: in the monarchy, the head of state are inherited, but in a
parliamentary form of government, a person to the post of head of state
appointed by the Parliament. The powers of the monarch described as great as
the power of the President in the form of a parliamentary republic. Both of
them, in fact, are the representatives of their countries in the international
arena. For a monarchy, the king or queen is a symbol, a tribute to the
traditions that inspires calm and shows a stable polity.

Germany is the most striking example of the parliamentary
form of government. Parliament (Bundestag) elected every 4 years by the people
of Germany. Early termination of its term of office is possible only in
exceptional cases and is included in the introduction of the Federal President.
Especially for his election the Federal Assembly meets, which consists, respectively,
of a number of Parliament members. He elected for a term of 5 years, renewable
for one term.

The parliamentary elections held on a mixed system. After
their completion, the Parliament, with the submission of the president, elects
the Federal Chancellor of Germany, who, as a chairman of the Federal
Government, appoints ministers of government and defines the main directions of
its activity.

President in this case prepared for the role to
approve the ministers for the post (or releasing them, in both cases, on the
Chancellor’s proposal). Some of his powers – the signing of laws, approval and
dismissal of higher courts judges and others. All the powers are strictly
limited, it is only the executor of other higher authorities. Its independence
to increase only in exceptional situations. The competence of the President also
includes the pardon of prisoners. He represents Germany on the international
scene. The dissolution of Parliament is possible only by way of exception, it
is declared by the Federal President.

The German government is accountable only to the Bundestag,
responsible only to it. The Chancellor and the ministers sworn in front of
parliament before the assumption of office. The government has the right of
legislative initiative and government regulations would take precedence over
Parliament’s acts. The federal government is stepping down with the change of
the Federal Chancellor. Parliament may make the Chancellor’s resignation. In
turn, the Chancellor himself can put the question of confidence in parliament. The
Chancellor and the government administers the executive, parliament supervises
the legislative branch. We will not consider the judicial system in detail,
because it is not of particular interest as it almost detached from the
parliament and the government.

Germany actually has all the signs of a parliamentary
form of government. The role of the president in Germany is so small, and the Chancellor’s
position is so great that even this country called “chancellor
republic”.

Having a separate study of the parliamentary and
presidential regimes, we can begin to compare their key features.

At first, different system of selecting the president
of the country. In a parliamentary form of government it appointed by the
Parliament, in a presidential form – people. That is essentially a more
democratic, but starting from the following paragraph, we see that it does not
matter.

Secondly, the position of President in these forms is
different. The president of the parliamentary republic, in contrast to the
presidential, does not play any significant role as head of state, while the
Prime Minister (Chancellor) has much more extensive powers. In the presidential
form the government, the state is headed by the president, concentrating a huge
amount of political power in his hands. That is, people simply have no sense to
elect the president with parliamentary system, since he is not particularly
important figure in politics. With presidential regime, the right to elect
should belong to the people.

Third, government in a parliamentary republic is
responsible only to the Parliament, it is not accountable to the president. In
the presidential system situation is reversed, the government is accountable
only to the president, not Parliament. The government in a parliamentary form
of government may be resigned only by Parliament, while in the presidential –
only by president.

Fourthly, president’s possibilities are different in
both types of republics. In a parliamentary republic, he performs mainly
representative functions without having the right of legislative initiative,
veto laws to Parliament. All his actions require countersignature and decrees
dictated by the parent bodies. In the presidential republic, the head of state
is actively used in practice all the rights, he takes the decision himself and
at his own request, he does not need parliamentary approval except in certain
cases. That is, the possibility of the president in a presidential republic is
greater. But he deprived of the possibility to dissolve the parliament,
although the president of a parliamentary republic could dissolve the
legislative power only in exceptional cases.

The differences in these two forms of government are
significant. They mainly relate to the scope of the president activities, his powers
and the degree of freedom as well as government accountability, which also
depends on the actual position of the head of state.

REFERENCES

‘The Legislative Branch. Retrieved from https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/legislative-branch

Scheb, John M.; Scheb, John M. II (2002). An
Introduction to the American Legal System. Florence, KY: Delmar

Padgett, Stephen, ed. 1994. The Development of the
German Chancellorship: Adenauer to Kohl. London: Hurst

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[1]Johannes F.
Linn (2006, January 26). Super-Presidential Risks and Opportunities in Russian.
Retrieved from http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2006/01/26russia-linn

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