In this article you will learn about the Merits and Demerits of Presidential Form of Government in Political Science.
Merits of Presidential Form of Government
1. Stability of Government : It is a stable government in which the tenures of the executive and legislature are fixed.
2. Strong Executive : It is a strong government because of the fact that the executive is independent of day to day interferences by the legislature. In it, the President has the power to make all decisions.
3. Continuity in Executive Policies : There is continuity in governmental policies because the tenure of the executive is definite and fixed.
4. Ministers are Experts : Presidential government is a government by professionals and experts because the cabinet is constituted by the President on merit.
5. Executive is free from aggressive party politics : In a Presidential system the political parties enjoy a minimum role in the sphere of executive functions. It kept the party politics to the legislature sphere.
6. More useful for the Unity of Nation : Because of being a strong executive, the Presidential system is held to be more conducive to the preservation of unity and integrity of the nation.
Demerits of Presidential Form of Government
1. A single person (President) enjoys a very powerful position : Success of a Presidential Government depends upon the qualities of the single person who becomes the President.
2. The President can use his powers in an arbitrary way : The President can behave arbitrarily because he wields a large amount of power both as head of the state as well as the head of the government.
3. Executive if Irresponsible : Presidential Executive is not responsible to the legislature.
4. Possibility of deadlocks between the Executive and Legislature : Because of the separation of powers there can be frequent deadlocks between the legislature and executive which can result in inefficiency and mutual mud-slinging.
5. Executive cannot be easily changed : Fixed tenure makes the executive rigid and irresponsible in approach.
6. It also suffers from Party Politics : Presidential Government is not free from evils of other party systems. Political Parties are in a position to use the legislature for exercising control over the executive.
The Presidential system has, as such, several merits as well as demerits. Its main merit is that it provides for a stable and strong government and it remains quite free from aggressive party politics. However, the possibility of deadlocks between the executive and legislature as well as the irresponsibility of the executive, are its two big shortcomings.
This article on Merits and Demerits 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.