In this article you will learn about the Features of Presidential Form of Government in Political Science.
Features of Presidential Form of Government
The following are the salient features of the Presidential form of Government. These are quite different from the features of the Parliamentary form of government. Parliamentary and Presidential forms are two alternative forms of government.
1. Single Unified Executive i.e. No Difference between Nominal Executive and the Real Executive.
In a Presidential government, the head of the state is both the nominal executive as well as the real executive. He is the head of the state as well as the head of the government. He is his own prime minister. He performs all the ceremonial functions as the head of state and exercises all the real executive powers as the chief executive head of the government. In the Presidential Form, the office of the President is the most powerful office. He is the Head of the State as well as the Head of Government and the real Chief Executive.
2. Separation of Powers between the Legislature and the Executive.
In a Presidential form of government, the executive is independent of the legislature. The membership of the two is incompatible. If X is a member of the legislature, he cannot be simultaneously a member of the executive. The executive heads of various government departments are not, and they cannot become or remain, members of the legislature. They have no right to participate in the activities of the legislature. Whenever they have to initiate any measure for the legislature, they take the informal help of their ‘friends in the legislature’. The head of the state and government, i.e. the President is not a member of the legislature. He is not accountable before the legislature. Unlike the Parliamentary form in which there is a close relationship between the two, in the Presidential form, the executive and legislature are independent of each other. Each exercises power only in respect of its allotted sphere - the executive in the field of law - enforcement and administration and the legislature in the field of law-making.
3. Fixed Tenures of the Executive and the Legislature.
In the Presidential form of government, the executive has a definite and fixed tenure before the expiry of which it cannot be removed or voted out of power by the legislature. The latter can remove the executive only through a complicated process of impeachment and that too only on certain definite charges. The method of impeachment is so complicated and difficult that mostly the legislature finds itself unable to use it for removing the President. The President has a fixed and stable tenure. He holds office for a definite and fixed period.
In the Presidential system of government, the legislature has a definite tenure, and before the expiry of which it cannot be dissolved by the executive. The President has no power to dissolve the legislature before the expiry of its full tem.
4. Cabinet works as an Advisory body to the President i.e. Head of State.
In the Presidential system, the Cabinet consists of the heads of different departments who are appointed by the President. All the powers are exercised by the President and the cabinet performs the function of giving advice to him. Each member of the Presidential Cabinet has the responsibility to carry out the administration of state in accordance with the policies, decisions and directions of the President. President is the real master of his cabinet. His decisions bind upon all his ministers. Ministers hold office only so long as he wants them to continue in office. In this respect, the President under the Presidential system is at a distinctly advantageous position in comparison with the position of the Prime Minister in the Parliamentary system.
5. Responsibility of the Ministers towards the President/Head of State.
In the Presidential system, the ministers are individually responsible to the President, who can remove them at will, with or without assigning any reason. The minister always acts in accordance with the decisions and directives of the President who is their real executive head/boss. Ministers owe little responsibility to the legislature. The legislature can exercise only some indirect control over the ministers by constituting investigation committees for investigating the functioning of various government departments.
6. Political Homogeneity of the Cabinet is not essential.
In the Presidential system, the President has the right to appoint any person to head any government department. He can appoint persons belonging to different political parties, or men of eminence to high offices. He has the right to freely choose and appoint his team of ministers and other high officers. The Cabinet in a Presidential system is an organisation of professional experts selected by the President for running the administration.
Since all these features are present in the US Political System, the Presidential form of government is at work in it. Though the features of Parliamentary and Presidential governments are basically different from each other, both are equally popular and work as liberal democratic governments.
Some States with Presidential Governments
United States of America, Angola, Argentina, Brazil, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Indonesia, Maldives, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Philippines, Venezuela, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
This article on Features of Presidential Form of Government in Political Science is contributed by Dipshikha Anand. If you like LawStudyPoint.com do follow us on our Twitter handle.