List of countries by system of government

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of sovereign states by their de jure systems of government, as specified by the incumbent regime's constitutional law. This list does not measure the degree of democracy, political corruption, or state capacity of governments.

World's states colored by systems of government:
  • Parliamentary systems: Head of government is elected or nominated by and accountable to the legislature.
      Constitutional monarchy with a ceremonial monarch
      Parliamentary republic with a ceremonial president
      Parliamentary republic with an executive president
    Presidential system: Head of government (president) is popularly elected and independent of the legislature.
      Presidential republic
    Hybrid systems:
      Semi-presidential republic: Executive president is independent of the legislature; head of government is appointed by the president and is accountable to the legislature.
      Assembly-independent republic: Head of government (president or directory) is elected by the legislature, but is not accountable to it.
    Other systems:
      Theocratic republic: Supreme leader is head of both the state and the faith, and holds significant executive and legislative power
      Semi-constitutional monarchy: Monarch holds significant executive or legislative power but is still restricted by the constitution.
      Absolute monarchy: Monarch has unlimited power.
      One-party state: Power is constitutionally linked to a single political party.
      Military junta: Committee of military leaders controls the government; constitutional provisions are suspended.
      Governments with no constitutional basis: No constitutionally defined basis to current regime, i.e., provisional governments or Islamic theocracies.
      Dependent territories or places without governments
    Note: this chart represents the de jure systems of government, not the de facto degree of democracy.

Parliamentary systems

Constitutional monarchies

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 the 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] The head of state is a monarch who normally only exercises their 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

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).[4] Full parliamentary republican systems with presidents being purely ceremonial and neutral with no broad powers usually do not have a directly elected head of state and instead often use either an electoral college or a vote in the legislature to appoint the president.

Parliamentary republics with directly elected ceremonial heads of state

Parliamentary republics with indirectly elected ceremonial heads of state

Parliamentary republics with an executive president

Main article: Presidential parliamentary republic

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.

Non-UN members or observers are in italics.

Presidential systems

In presidential system, a president is both the head of state and 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.

Presidential republics without a prime minister

Non-UN members or observers are in italics.

Presidential republics with a prime minister

The following countries have presidential systems where the 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 role is to mostly assist the president.

Non-UN members or observers are in italics.

Hybrid systems

Semi-presidential republics

In a semi-presidential republic a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature. It differs from a parliamentary system in that it has an executive president independent from the legislature; and from the presidential system in that the cabinet, although named by the president, is responsible to the legislature, which may force the cabinet to resign through a motion of no confidence.[30][31][32][33]

President-parliamentary systems

In a president-parliamentary system, the prime minister and cabinet are dually accountable to the president and the legislature.[34]

Non-UN members or observers are in italics.

Premier-presidential systems

In a premier-presidential system, the prime minister and cabinet are exclusively accountable to the legislature.[34]

Non-UN members or observers are in italics.

Assembly-independent republics

In an assembly-independent republic, the executive is elected by the legislature but, once in office, is not politically accountable to it and cannot be removed through a vote of no confidence. This places such systems outside the logic of parliamentary republics, in which the executive depends on continued legislative confidence, and presidential systems, in which the executive is elected independently of the legislature. In comparative politics, this institutional arrangement is commonly described as assembly-independent government, referring to systems that combine legislative election of the executive with its independence from parliamentary dismissal.[40][41][34] They may or may not also hold a seat in the legislature.

Directorial republic

 Switzerland employs a Federal Council which jointly exercises the powers of the head of state and government collectively. The Federal Council is elected by the Assembly but is not subject to parliamentary confidence during its fixed term. The President is the Presiding member of the Federal Council in a primus inter pares (first among equals) capacity and has no powers over other members of the directory.

Main articles: Politics of Switzerland and Directorial system

Semi-constitutional monarchies

The prime minister is the nation's active executive, but the monarch still has considerable political powers that can be used at their own discretion.

Theocratic 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.

Main article: Politics of Iran

Absolute monarchies

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.

Non UN members or observers are in italics.

One-party states

States in which political power is by law concentrated within one political party whose operations are largely fused with the government hierarchy (in contrast to states where a multi-party system formally exists, but this fusion is achieved anyway through election fraud or underdeveloped multi-party traditions).

Non-UN members or observers are in italics.

Military juntas

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.

Governments without a permanent constitution

Provisional governments

States that have a system of government that is in transition or turmoil. These regimes lack a permanent constitution.

Non-UN members or observers are in italics.

Islamic theocracy

Afghanistan[w][62][63] has a theocratic system wherein the supreme leader holds unlimited political power and the Quran is used in place of a constitution.[64][65][66]

Main article: Politics of Afghanistan

Systems of internal structure

Unitary states

Main article: Unitary state

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.

Regionalized unitary states

Main article: Regional state

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.

Federation

Main article: Federation

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.

European Union

Main article: List of European Union member states by political system

The exact political character of the European Union is debated, some arguing that it is sui generis (unique), but others arguing that it has features of a federation or a confederation. It has elements of intergovernmentalism, with the European Council acting as its collective "president", and also elements of supranationalism, with the European Commission acting as its executive and bureaucracy.[67]

See also

Notes

  1. [a]
    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.
  2. [b]
    The Bishop of Urgell and President of France serve as ex officio co-princes who have their interests known through a representative.
  3. [c]
    One of 15 constitutional monarchies which recognize the Monarch of the United Kingdom as the hereditary symbolic 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.[3]
  4. [d]
    The Cook Islands and Niue are under the sovereignty of the Monarch of New Zealand as self-governing states in free association with New Zealand. New Zealand and its associated states, along with Tokelau and the Ross Dependency, comprise the Realm of New Zealand.[citation needed]
  5. [e]
    The Danish Realm consists of Denmark, Faroe Islands and Greenland and all are under the sovereignty of the Monarch of the Danish Realm.
  6. [f]
    Collective presidency consisting of three members; one for each major ethnic group.
  7. [g]
    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.
  8. [h]
    Their two-person head of state, the Captains Regent, serve for six month terms.
  9. [i]
    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.
  10. [j]
    The president is elected by the 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).
  11. [k]
    President and legislature are elected directly by the people via double simultaneous vote.
  12. [l]
    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]
  13. [m]
    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) 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.
  14. [n]
    President and legislature are elected directly by the people via double simultaneous vote.
  15. [o]
    President and legislature are elected directly by the people via double simultaneous vote.
  16. [p]
    President and legislature are elected directly by the people via double simultaneous vote.
  17. [q]
    The Republic of Austria is de jure semi-presidential according to the country's Constitution, but is de facto more like a parliamentary republic. According to the constitutional convention, the Chancellor is the country's leading political figure, despite nominally being ranked third according to the Constitution.
  18. [r]
    Nominally a parliamentary republic; the semi-presidential system is based on temporary additional articles. According to the Constitution of the Republic of China, the National Assembly indirectly elects the President of the Republic, which is the ceremonial figurehead of the state. Executive power rested with the President of the Executive Yuan, who is nominated and appointed by the president, with the consent of the Legislative Yuan. The additional articles made the President directly elected by the citizens of the free area and replaced Legislative Yuan confirmation for Premieral appointments with a conventional vote of no confidence, superseding the ordinary constitutional provisions. A sunset clause in the additional articles will terminate them in the event of a hypothetical resumption of ROC rule in Mainland China.
  19. [s]
    Holds a legislative seat.
  20. [t]
    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.
  21. [u]
    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.)[48]
  22. [v]
    Disputed between the internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council and the Supreme Political Council.[60]
  23. [w]
    Afghanistan: The ruling Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is mostly unrecognized and the defunct Islamic Republic of Afghanistan remains recognized by the United Nations.[61]

References

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