The president of the country has a leading and a dominant role in the political structure

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
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

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/legislativebranch
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

Explanation & Answer

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