In this article you will learn about Types of Executive in Political Science.
Types of Executive
The executive branch plays a crucial role in the functioning of the government and is responsible for ensuring the smooth administration of the country. There are different types of executives, and their roles and functions vary depending on the type of government and the country's political system.
The Executive has two parts :
(i) The Political Executive, and (ii) The Permanent Executive (The Civil Service)
- The Political Executive : It consists of the executive head of the state and other political heads of the executive departments (Ministers). It is constituted by the elected representatives who are responsible to the people for the working of the governmental departments. It is a periodically changing executive in the sense that it changes after every general election. Its members remain in office for a fixed term after which they have to re-contest elections. They become ministers only when the party to which they belong returns to power as the majority party, or when the head of state belongs to their party and wishes to retain them as heads of the executive departments. The ministers are amateurs and their function is to formulate policies and get these enforced by the civil servants. The political executive heads the government.
- The Permanent Executive : The non-political and permanent executive consists of the civil servants, from the lowest to the highest level, who carry out the day to day administration of the governmental departments. In its broadest sense, it includes all civil servants or the members of the bureaucracy. The civil servants are politically neutral and they do not owe allegiance to any particular political party. Their job is to carry out the laws and policies of the government without any consideration as to which political party is in power. Civil Servants are professionals and expects. They are specially educated and trained for their jobs and they provide expertise to governmental work. They tender expert advice and opinion as well as collect, record, classify and present data to the political executive on the basis of which the latter takes all decisions. Once appointed, they remain in office till the attainment of the retirement age, usually up to the age of 55 or 60 years. They get fixed and regular salaries and are hierarchically organised into higher and lower relationships.
There exists a clear and well defined difference between the Political Executive and the Permanent Executive or Non-political executive i.e. between ministers and civil servants. Nevertheless, both are important and essential parts of the executive.
This article on Types of Executive in Political Science is contributed by Dipshikha Anand. If you like LawStudyPoint.com do follow us on our Twitter handle.