Palace of Westminster in February 2007
Constitution of the Year XII (First French Republic)
Map showing the terminology for each country's national legislature
Constitution of the Kingdom of Naples in 1848.
The Congress of the Republic of Peru, the country's national legislature, meets in the Legislative Palace in 2010
Detail from Hammurabi's stele shows him receiving the laws of Babylon from the seated sun deity.
The British House of Commons, its lower house
Diagram illustrating the classification of constitutions by Aristotle.
The German Bundestag, its theoretical lower house
Third volume of the compilation of Catalan Constitutions of 1585
The Australian Senate, its upper house
The Cossack Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk, 1710.
A painting depicting George Washington at the Constitutional Convention of 1787 signing of the U.S. Constitution
Constitution of May 3, 1791 (painting by Jan Matejko, 1891). Polish King Stanisław August (left, in regal ermine-trimmed cloak), enters St. John's Cathedral, where Sejm deputies will swear to uphold the new Constitution; in background, Warsaw's Royal Castle, where the Constitution has just been adopted.
Presidential copy of the Russian Constitution.
Magna Carta
United States Constitution

A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separation of powers.

- Presidential system

These countries modeled their constitutions after that of the United States, and the presidential system became the dominant political system in the Americas.

- Presidential system

In Westminster-style legislatures the executive (composed of the cabinet) can essentially pass any laws it wants, as it usually has a majority of legislators behind it, kept in check by the party whip, while committee-based legislatures in continental Europe and those in presidential systems of the Americas have more independence in drafting and amending bills.

- Legislature

Some political systems follow the principle of legislative supremacy, which holds that the legislature is the supreme branch of government and cannot be bound by other institutions, such as the judicial branch or a written constitution.

- Legislature

The standard model, described by the Baron de Montesquieu, involves three branches of government: executive, legislative and judicial.

- Constitution

In presidential and semi-presidential systems of government, department secretaries/ministers are accountable to the president, who has patronage powers to appoint and dismiss ministers.

- Constitution
Palace of Westminster in February 2007

2 related topics with Alpha

Overall

World administrative levels

Government

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System or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.

System or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.

World administrative levels
Map of European nations coloured by percentage of vote governing party got in last election as of 2022
Governments recognised as "electoral democracies" by the Freedom in the World survey
Separation of powers in the US government, demonstrating the tria politica model

In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary.

In many countries, the government has a kind of constitution, a statement of its governing principles and philosophy.

Other terms used to describe different republics include democratic republic, parliamentary republic, semi-presidential republic, presidential republic, federal republic, people's republic, and Islamic republic.

John Locke

Separation of powers

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Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches.

Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches.

John Locke
Montesquieu
George Washington at Constitutional Convention of 1787, signing of U.S. Constitution

The typical division is into three branches: a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary, which is sometimes called the trias politica model.

The following example of the separation of powers and their mutual checks and balances from the experience of the United States Constitution (specifically, Federalist No. 51) is presented as illustrative of the general principles applied in similar forms of government as well:

Constitutions with a high degree of separation of powers are found worldwide.