The contemporary classification of forms of government basically distinguishes
between two main categories: The European parliamentary system and the American
presidential system. These legislative and executive systems can be
distinguished between one another by the organization of each of the state
powers, the relations among them and the form in which they are connected.
The presidential system arises in American Constitutionalism and is
characterized by: a) the executive power is unitary, given that it concentrates
the figures of head of state and head of the government; b) the president is
elected by the people and not by the legislative power, which gives the
president the relative greater autonomy; c) the president freely appoints and
removes the members of the cabinet, state secretaries or ministers; d) neither
the president nor the state secretaries and ministers are politically
accountable in front of the congress; e) the president, the state secretaries,
ministers, and members of the cabinet cannot be members of the Congress; f) The
president can be affiliated or militate in a different political party than the
Congress majority, and g) the president cannot dissolve the congress nor the
congress can give a censure vote to the president.
The parliamentary system comes from the political evolution of a great
number of European countries, especially England, and is characterized by the
following: a) the members of the cabinet (executive power and government) are
members of the parliament as well; b) The cabinet is conformed with the heads
of the parties which by coalition form the parliamentary majority; c) The
executive power is divided among a head of state with representation and
protocol functions, and a head of government who handles the administration and
government itself; d) In the cabinet there is a person identified as the prime
minister, with great political influence in the government; e) the cabinet’s
subsistence is guaranteed through parliamentary majority’s support; f) the
public administration is commended to the cabinet, under the parliament’s
constant supervision, which can demand political accountability to the
government; g) there is a permanent inter-organic control between the
parliament and the government, and h) while the parliament can deny a vote of
trust or can give a censure vote to the cabinet, under which the latter one
would be bound to resign, the government can ask the head of state to dissolve
the parliament.
In addition, another form of government can be identified: the dictatorial
form of government is the one in which a dictator or autocrat uses the attributions
from its own authority and not by temporal delegation. This form of government
generally derives from institutional crisis in which there is a general belief that
the existent powers of the government are not capable of handling the
situation. It can also be originated by
plebiscitary processes or by armed movements and coup d’ etat. The first
situations establish governments with charismatic leaders; the latter ones more
likely establish praetorian dictatorships. The dictatorial government tries to
consolidate its support by penetrating into a great part of the community’s
life, through the organization of a unique party and propaganda, or through a
military apparatus. Dictatorship could create a totalitarian state.
It is important to have reference to the form of government (presidential,
parliamentary or dictatorial) in order to determine the viability of
institutions and the legal design of the electoral process in order that representivity
and functionality are guaranteed in the electoral system, as well as
governability in the political one. Of course, it also makes sense to face the
technical aspects and the cultural, economical, political and social contexts, with
regard to presidential and parliamentary forms of government.
