Most of the countries in the world today have representative forms of government. In a representative democracy, individuals are voted to power by the citizens of the country who act as representatives of the people thereby taking all the policy decisions on behalf of the citizens of the country. A representative democracy can be further divided into presidential and parliamentary democracies based on the nature of governance and the nature of the executive. Show A Presidential executive is headed by the President who is the single unified authority responsible for making all the policy decisions. Here the head of the government and the head of the state is one person. The president is elected directly by the people or by an electoral college. A Parliamentary executive on the other hand is also known as the Cabinet form of government or the ‘Responsible government’, in such case, the citizens elect representatives to the Parliament. It is the Parliament that makes the laws governing the country. The Prime Minister is the real head of a Parliamentary executive while the President is the nominal head. Each of these two forms of the executive is distinct from each other in terms of their relationship between the two organs, the heads of the state, their accountability to the legislature. The two forms of democracies are different from each other in their structure and functioning and every country has made a choice between these two based on their needs and requirements. The differences between the two forms of the executive are as follows: 1. Relation between the three organs of the government
2. Nature of executive
3. Separation of Powers
4. Tenures
5. Role of the Cabinet
6. Division of Powers
7. Appointment of Ministers
8. Accountability
9. Dissolution of the lower House
10. Autocratic
The Parliamentary and Presidential forms of executives have their unique characteristics; they are different from each other in their functioning, organization, and structures. The governing structure of a country depends on whether they have a presidential or parliamentary executive. Some countries have adopted the good features of each of these approaches thereby enhancing their governance. Every country has made a choice based on its requirements, India for instance, has adopted the parliamentary system of governance which is ideal and best suited for the efficient administration of the country. Both these forms of executives have been implemented keeping in mind the wellbeing of the citizens of the country, the ultimate aim of both these forms of executives is enhancing democracy and looking after the interests of the citizens. Article Tags : On the other hand, in the presidential form of government, the President is the chief executive, who is directly elected by the people or by the members of the electoral college. The difference between the Parliamentary and Presidential form of government is discussed in the article in detail. Content: Parliamentary System Vs Presidential System
Comparison Chart
Definition of Parliamentary form of GovernmentParliamentary form of government represents a system of democratic governance of a country, wherein the executive branch is derived from the legislative body, i.e. the Parliament. Here, the executive is divided into two parts, the Head of the State, i.e. President, who is only the nominal executive and the Head of the Government, i.e. Prime Minister, who is the real executive. As per this system, the political party getting the maximum number of seats during federal elections, in the Parliament, forms the government. The party elects a member, as a leader, who is appointed as the Prime Minister by the President. After the appointment of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet is formed by him, whose members should be out of the Parliament. The executive body, i.e. the Cabinet is accountable to the legislative body, i.e. Parliament This system is prevalent in the countries like India, Japan and Canada. Definition of Presidential form of GovernmentWhen a country follows the Presidential form of Government, it denotes that there is only one person as the head of the state and government, i.e. the President. The election of the President is made directly by the citizens of the country or sometimes by the members of the electoral college for a fixed period. The President elects some ministers as the Secretary and forms a small Cabinet, who assist in governing the country. Neither the President nor the Secretaries are accountable to the Congress (Parliament) for their acts. Indeed, they do not attend the sessions as well. This form of government can be found in the countries like United States of America, Russia, Brazil and Srilanka.
The points presented below are important so far as the differences between parliamentary and presidential form of government is concerned:
ConclusionThe members of the cabinet possess double membership, i.e. of legislative and executive organ of government. Contrary to this, in the presidential form of government, the members of the cabinet possesses the membership of executive organ only. When it comes to dominance, in the Parliamentary System, the President is only the titorial head, while the real powers lie in the hands of the Prime Minister. On the contrary, in the Presidential System, the President has got the supreme power. |