W HAT ARE THE D IFFERENT T YPES OF E XECUTIVE ? Every country may not have the same type of executive. You may have heard about the President of the USA and the Queen of England. But the powers and functions of the President of the USA are very different from the powers of the President of India.
Similarly, the powers of the Queen of England are different from the powers of the King of Nepal. Both India and France have prime ministers, but their roles are different from each other. Why is this so? Activity Procure a photograph of the SAARC summit meeting or the meeting of G- countries and list those who attended the meeting.
Can you imagine why those people and not some others are attending the meeting? To answer this question we will briefly outline the nature of executive existing in some of these countries. The USA has a presidential system and executive powers are in the hands of the president. Canada has a parliamentary democracy with a constitutional monarchy where Queen Elizabeth II is the formal chief of state and the prime minister is the head of government.
In France, both the president and the prime minister are a part of the semi- presidential system. The president appoints the prime minister as well as the ministers but cannot dismiss them as they are responsible to the parliament. Japan has a parliamentary system with the Emperor as the head of the state and the prime minister as the head of government. Italy has a parliamentary system with the president as the formal head of state and the prime minister as the head of government.
Russia has a semi-presidential system where president is the head of state and prime minister, who is appointed by the president, is the head of government. Germany has a parliamentary system in which president is the ceremonial head of state and the chancellor is the head of government. In a presidential system, the president is the Head of state as well as head of government. In this system the office of president is very powerful, both in theory and practice.
Countries with such a system include the United States, Brazil and most nations in Latin America.