The document provides an overview of the three main types of democratic government systems: presidential, parliamentary, and semi-presidential. Presidential systems have an elected president who is both head of state and head of government, with ministers accountable only to the president. Parliamentary systems have an elected parliament that selects a prime minister to head the government. Semi-presidential systems combine features of both, with an elected president and prime minister sharing executive power. The document compares key aspects of each system and provides examples of countries that use each model.

1. Comparative Political System
Teammate: Professor: Leng Layheng
-Seng Chantevy
-Khan Sopheakkanha

2. Contents
• Presidential systems
• Parliamentary systems
• Semi-presidential systems
• Presidential, parliamentary and semi-presidential
systems compared
• Theories of parliamentary, presidential and semi-
presidential government.

3. Introduction
• Democracy is a form of government in which eligible
citizens participate equally – either directly or indirectly
through representative.
• The great, majority of democracies combine their three
branches of government in one of three general ways:
– Presidential systems
– Parliamentary systems
– Semi-presidential systems

4. Separation of Power
Federal government power
Legislature Executive Judiciary
Makes the laws Carries out the laws Enforces the laws
interprets the laws
Congress President Supreme Court

5. Presidential systems
• Direct elected
• Appoint minsters or cabinet members
– Responsible only for their own department business
and accountable to the president
– Cannot be the members of the legislature
• Presidential government is marked by four main features
– Head of state and government
• Perform the ceremonial duties of head of state

6. Cont…
• In charge of the executive branch
–Chief of the arm forces
–Head of the national civil service
–Responsible for both foreign policy and for
initiating domestic legislation
– The execution of policy
• Appoint cabinet to advise them and run the main state
bureaucracies

7. Cont…
– Dependence on the legislative branch
• Initiate legislation but depend on the legislature to
pass it into law.
– Fixed tenure presidents
• Directly elected for fix term
• Secure in office unless, in exceptional
circumstance, they are removed from it by the
legislature.

8. Cont…
• Check and balance system is an important part of the
constitution. With check and balances each of the three
branches of government can limit the power of the other.

9. Parliamentary systems
• A democratic from of government in which the
people vote for those who represent the political party
they feel best represents their views of how the
government should operate.
• The prime minister leads the executive branch of the
government and must answer directly to the
parliament for actions taken and the policies
recommended.

10. Cont…
• In many parliamentary democracies, a head of state
like a queen, king, or president is the head of state but
is basically a ceremonial leader.
• A prime minister holds power for the term of office
set by a country’s constitution

11. Cont…
• A prime minister leads the work done by the
parliament, and the prime minster is helped by
cabinet, a group of advisors.
• The parliament may remove the executive from
power with a vote no confidence. Equally, the
executive can dissolve the legislature and call an
election.

12. Semi-presidential systems
• The president is directly elected by universal
suffrage.
• President appointed a prime minister from the elected
legislature
• The president and prime minster share executive
power.

13. Cont…
• The president was given powers to :
– Appoint the prime minister from the elected
assembly, and to dismiss him
– Dissolve parliament and call a referendum
– Call an emergency and substantial powers to deal
with it.

14. Presidential,parliamentary and semi-
presidential compared
Three major form of democratic government:Presidential Parliamentary Semi-presidential
• Citizens directly
elect the executive
for a fixed term
• The executive
emerges from a
directly elected
legislature and is an
integral part of it
• Executive power is
shared between a
president(directly
elected) and a prime
minister who is
appointed or
directly elected
• Except for a few
joint presidencies,
the president alone
has executive power
• The cabinet shares
executive power
and must reach
compromises to
maintain unity
• The prime minister
appoints a cabinet,
usually from the
ruling party or
coalition in the
assembly

15. Cont…
• The presidency is
the only office of
state with a general
responsibility for
the affairs of state.
• The executive is a
collegial body that
share responsibility
• The president often
appoints the prime
minister and has
general
responsibility for
state affair
especially foreign
• President shares
power with a
separate and
independently
elected legislative
• The office of the
prime minister is
usually separate
from the head of
state
• The president often
has emergency
powers, including
the dissolution of
parliament

16. Cont…
• The presidential is
directly elected and
therefore directly
accountable to the
people
• The prime minister
and cabinet are
responsible to
parliament
• The president is
directly elected and
directly accountable
to people, the prime
minister is
responsible either to
the president or to
paliament
• Example: USA,
many states in
central and South
America,Phillipines,
South Korea
• Most stable
democracies are
parliamentary
system-Australia
Belgium, Canada,
German, Greece,
India,Japan, UK,
Switzerland
• France and so many
post communist
state including
Belarus, Poland,
Russia, and Ukraine

17. Theories of paliamentary, presidential and semi-
presidential government
Presidential Parliamentary Semi-Presidential
• The USA is a model • Most of the world’s
stable democracies
are parliamentary
system
• In theory combines
the best of
presidential and
parliamentary
government
• Separation of the
executive and
legislative
institutions of
government
according to
classical democratic
theory
• Fusion of executive
and legislative can
create strong and
effective
government
• The president can
be a symbol of the
nation, and a focus
of national unity,
while the prime
minister can run the
day to day business
of the government