These are systems in which the
head of state is a
constitutional monarch; the existence of their office and their ability to exercise their authority is established and restrained by constitutional law.
Systems in which a
prime minister is the active head of the
executive branch of government. In some cases, the prime minister is also leader of the
legislature, while in other cases the executive branch is clearly separated from legislature (although the entire cabinet or individual ministers must step down in the case of a
vote of no confidence).[1][2][dubious –
discuss] The
head of state is a
constitutional monarch who normally only exercises his or her powers with the consent of the government, the people and/or their representatives (except in emergencies, e.g. a constitutional crisis or a political deadlock).[a]
Parliamentary republics with a ceremonial president
In a
parliamentary republic, the head of government is selected or nominated by the legislature and is also accountable to it. The head of state is usually called a president and (in full parliamentary republics) is separate from the head of government, serving a largely apolitical, ceremonial role. In these systems, the head of government is usually called the prime minister, chancellor or premier. In mixed republican systems and directorial republican systems, the head of government also serves as head of state and is usually titled president.
In some full parliamentary systems, the head of state is directly elected by voters. Under other classification systems, however, these systems may instead be classed as semi-presidential systems as presidents are always attached to a political party and may have broad powers (despite their weak presidency).[3] Full parliamentary republican systems with presidents being purely ceremonial and neutral with no broad powers, do not have a directly elected head of state and instead usually use either an
electoral college or a vote in the legislature to appoint the president.
Parliamentary republics with an executive president
A combined head of state and head of government in the form of an
executive president is either elected by the legislature or by the voters from among candidates nominated by the legislature (in the case of Kiribati),[23] and they must maintain the confidence of the legislature to remain in office. In effect, "presidents" in this system function the same as
prime ministers do in other
parliamentary systems.
In
presidential systems a
president is the
head of government, and is elected and remains in office independently of the
legislature. There is generally no prime minister, although if one exists, in most cases they serve purely at the discretion of the president.
The following countries have presidential systems where a post of
prime minister (official title may vary) exists alongside that of the president. The president is still both the head of state and government and the prime minister's roles are mostly to assist the president.
A combined head of state and head of government (usually titled president) is elected by the legislature but is not held accountable to it (as is their cabinet), thus acting more independently from the legislature.[33] They may or may not also hold a seat in the legislature.
In a
directorial republic, a council jointly exercises the powers and ceremonial roles of both the head of state and head of government. The council is elected by the parliament, but is not subject to
parliamentary confidence during its fixed term.
Specifically, monarchies in which the monarch's exercise of power is unconstrained by any substantive constitutional law. The monarch acts as both head of state and head of government.
A committee of the nation's military leaders controls the government for the duration of a
state of emergency. Constitutional provisions for government are suspended in these states; constitutional forms of government are stated in parentheses.
A
state governed as a single power in which the
central government is ultimately supreme and any
administrative divisions (sub-national units) exercise only the powers that the central government chooses to delegate. The majority of states in the world have a unitary system of government. Of the 193
UN member states, 126 are governed as centralized unitary states, and an additional 40 are regionalized unitary states.
Centralized unitary states
States in which most power is exercised by the central government. What local authorities do exist have few powers.
States in which the
central government has delegated some of its powers to regional authorities, but where constitutional authority ultimately remains entirely at a national level.
States in which the
national government shares power with regional governments with which it has legal or constitutional
parity. The central government may or may not be (in theory) a creation of the regional governments.
^Some monarchs are given a limited number of discretionary
reserve powers only to be used in certain circumstances in accordance with their responsibility to defend the constitution.
^
abcdefghijklmnopqOne of fifteen constitutional monarchies which recognize the
Monarch of the United Kingdom as head of state, who presides over an independent government. The Monarch is titled separately in each country (e.g.
King of Australia), and notionally appoints a
Governor-General (GG) to each country other than the United Kingdom to act as his representative. The
prime minister (PM) is the active head of the executive branch of government and also leader of the legislature. These countries may be known as "
Commonwealth realms". In many cases, the Governor-General or monarch has a lot more theoretical, or constitutional, powers than they actually exercise, except on the advice of elected officials, per
constitutional convention. For example, the
Constitution of Australia makes the GG the head of the executive branch (including
commander-in-chief of the armed forces), although they seldom ever use this power, except on the advice of elected officials, especially the PM, which makes the PM the de facto head of government.[citation needed]
^Collective presidency consisting of three members; one for each major ethnic group.
^Despite having a collective head of state, Bosnia and Herzegovina's head of state is ceremonial, and as such is not executively governed by a directorial system.
^The
Republic of Poland has been defined de jure by its
Constitution as a
parliamentary republic. However, the system is largely
semi-presidential in nature as the
President of Poland does exercise some power – the head of state appoints the Prime Minister as the head of government, and can veto legislation as well as dissolve parliament in certain situations. The Cabinet and Prime Minister appointed by the President are subject to a vote of confidence by the Polish Parliament (
Sejm).[11][12][13][14][15][16]
^Their two-person head of state, the
Captains Regent, serve for six month terms.
^Despite having a collective head of state, San Marino's head of state is ceremonial, and as such is not executively governed by a directorial system.
^The president is elected by parliament and holds a parliamentary seat (as an ex-officio), much like a prime minister. If a vote of no confidence is successful and they do not resign, it triggers the dissolution of the legislature and new elections (per section 92 of the
Constitution).
^The president is constitutionally obligated to dissolve parliament after a successful no-confidence motion against the government (article 106(6)) and new elections are called within 3 months (article 61).[24]
^Per the Constitution, Kiribati's president is elected by plurality voting after candidates for the presidency are nominated by the newly elected legislature. If a vote of no confidence against the president is successful, they are removed from office and the legislature stands dissolved (triggering a new election for it) and in the interim a body known as the "Council of State" (comprising the chief justice, the president of the public service commission and speaker of the legislature) serves the functions of the presidency.
^Self-described as the Islamic Republic, Iran combines the forms of a presidential republic, with a president elected by universal suffrage, and a
theocracy, with a
Supreme Leader who is ultimately responsible for state policy, chosen for life by the elected
Assembly of Experts. Candidates for both the Assembly of Experts and the presidency are vetted by the appointed
Guardian Council.
^A federal absolute monarchy in which, different monarchies, or in this case, sheikhdoms fulfill both the duty of president and prime minister, although in actuality they are monarchs.
^The Vatican is an
elective absolute monarchy and a Roman Catholic theocracy; its monarch, the
Pope, is the head of the global
Roman Catholic Church. His power within the Vatican City State is unlimited by any constitution; however, as all its citizens and its residents are ordained Catholic clergy, members of the
Swiss Guard, or their immediate family, they arguably have consented to obey the Pope or are minors. (Citizenship is jus officii, on the grounds of appointment to work in a certain capacity in the service of the Holy See and usually ceases upon cessation of the appointment. Citizenship is also extended to the spouse and children of a citizen, provided they are living together in the city; in practice, these are few in number, since the bulk of Vatican citizens are
celibate Catholic clerics or
religious. Some individuals are also authorized to reside in the city but do not qualify or choose not to request citizenship.)[40]
^Afghanistan: As of December 2022[update], despite the
loss of territory to the
Taliban in 2021, the Islamic Republic continues to hold Afghanistan's seat at the United Nations, with the newly reinstated
Islamic Emirate remaining unrecognized by the organization.[54]
^Veser, Ernst[in German] (23 September 1997).
"Semi-Presidentialism-Duverger's Concept — A New Political System Model"(PDF). Department of Education, School of Education,
University of Cologne , zh. pp. 39–60. Retrieved 21 August 2017. Duhamel has developed the approach further: He stresses that the French construction does not correspond to either parliamentary or the presidential form of government, and then develops the distinction of 'système politique' and 'régime constitutionnel'. While the former comprises the exercise of power that results from the dominant institutional practice, the latter is the totality of the rules for the dominant institutional practice of the power. In this way, France appears as 'presidentialist system' endowed with a 'semi-presidential regime' (1983: 587). By this standard he recognizes Duverger's pléiade as semi-presidential regimes, as well as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania (1993: 87).
^Shugart, Matthew Søberg (December 2005).
"Semi-Presidential Systems: Dual Executive And Mixed Authority Patterns"(PDF). French Politics. 3 (3): 323–351.
doi:10.1057/palgrave.fp.8200087. Retrieved 21 August 2017. Even if the president has no discretion in the forming of cabinets or the right to dissolve parliament, his or her constitutional authority can be regarded as 'quite considerable' in Duverger's sense if cabinet legislation approved in parliament can be blocked by the people's elected agent. Such powers are especially relevant if an extraordinary majority is required to override a veto, as in Mongolia, Poland, and Senegal. In these cases, while the government is fully accountable to parliament, it cannot legislate without taking the potentially different policy preferences of the president into account.
^Duverger (1980).
"A New Political System Model: Semi-Presidential Government". European Journal of Political Research (quarterly). 8 (2): 165–187.
doi:10.1111/j.1475-6765.1980.tb00569.x. The concept of a semi-presidential form of government, as used here, is defined only by the content of the constitution. A political regime is considered as semi-presidential if the constitution which established it, combines three elements: (1) the president of the republic is elected by universal suffrage, (2) he possesses quite considerable powers; (3) he has opposite him, however, a prime minister and ministers who possess executive and governmental power and can stay in office only if the parliament does not show its opposition to them.
^Bahro, Horst; Bayerlein, Bernhard H.;
Veser, Ernst[in German] (October 1998). "Duverger's concept: Semi-presidential government revisited". European Journal of Political Research (quarterly). 34 (2): 201–224.
doi:
10.1111/1475-6765.00405.
S2CID153349701. The conventional analysis of government in democratic countries by political science and constitutional law starts from the traditional types of presidentialism and parliamentarism. There is, however, a general consensus that governments in the various countries work quite differently. This is why some authors have inserted distinctive features into their analytical approaches, at the same time maintaining the general dichotomy. Maurice Duverger, trying to explain the French Fifth Republic, found that this dichotomy was not adequate for this purpose. He therefore resorted to the concept of 'semi-presidential government': The characteristics of the concept are (Duverger 1974: 122, 1978: 28, 1980: 166): 1. the president of the republic is elected by universal suffrage, 2. he possesses quite considerable powers and 3. he has opposite him a prime minister who possesses executive and governmental powers and can stay in office only if parliament does not express its opposition to him.
^Stewart, Dona J. (2013). The Middle East Today: Political, Geographical and Cultural Perspectives. London and New York: Routledge. p. 155.
ISBN978-0415782432.
^Day, Alan John (1996). Political Parties of The World. Stockton. p. 599.
ISBN1561591440.
^Chris Buckley and Adam Wu (10 March 2018).
"Ending Term Limits for China's Xi Is a Big Deal. Here's Why. – Is the presidency powerful in China?". New York Times.
Archived from the original on 12 March 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2019. In China, the political job that matters most is the general secretary of the Communist Party. The party controls the military and domestic security forces, and sets the policies that the government carries out. China's presidency lacks the authority of the American and French presidencies.