A Comparison of Government Regimes - Vientiane, Laos

A Comparison of Government
Regimes

Dr. Steven D. Roper
Georgetown University

And

Dr. Lilian A. Barria
Georgetown University

Types of Government Regimes

Global Establishment of
Government Regimes

Presidential Regime

1. The executive is popularly
elected. There are many
different types of electoral
systems for executives (plurality
or majority run-off).

Presidential Regime

2. Fixed terms not subject to a
vote of no confidence.
3. The executive names and
directs the government. Some
executives have complete
authority over the selection of the
cabinet while other executives
have to submit their cabinet
selections for approval.

Presidential Regime

4. The executive has some
constitutional legislative
authority. The most common
power is the veto.

Parliamentary Regime

1. The executive is elected by the
parliament and invested with power by a
vote of confidence. Usually this is done
as an entire cabinet, but in some
countries, the parliament “elects” just
the prime minister or executive who
later names the cabinet.

Parliamentary Regime

2. The executive is subject to a vote of
confidence and no confidence. Votes of
confidence, like other aspects of the
political regime, differ in countries.
3. The executive names and directs the
government. The executive’s
relationship with the cabinet differs in
different types of parliaments.

Parliamentary Regime

4. The executive can have complete
authority over legislation. This depends
on the type of government. Party loyalty
gives the prime minister power over the
parliament. This is because if the
government loses a vote, this indicates a
lack of confidence and in some cases
can actually end the government and
possibly mean new elections

Semi-Presidential Regime

1.The president is popularly elected
and has some constitutional
powers.

2.The president has a fixed term of
office.

3.A prime minister directs the
government and has a vote of
confidence.

Issues to Consider When
Designing Political Regimes

1. The advantage of presidentialism stems from the
presidential fixed term in office.

2. An advantage of a presidential system is that the
chief executive is popularly elected.

3. The first disadvantage to a presidential system is
deadlock that especially has been a significant
source of problem in Latin America.

4. A second major disadvantage is temporal
rigidity. The fixed term in office is a problem
when the executive is unpopular.

Issues to Consider When
Designing Political Regimes

5. There is no deadlock between the executive and
the legislative branch in a parliamentary system.

6. A parliamentary system eliminates the temporal
rigidity of a presidential system.

7. Parliamentary systems can often entail
substantial cabinet, government instability.

8. Legislatures in parliamentary systems must
make laws and support the cabinet. Since voting
against the cabinet can end government, there is
a pressure to vote with the cabinet.

Issues to Consider When
Designing Political Regimes

9. The problem of temporal rigidity is not as
problematic in semi-presidentialism because the
president is not necessarily the head of
government and because often the president is
granted the power to dissolve parliament.

10. One of the weaknesses of semi-presidentialism
is that it replaces the problem of a dual
competing legitimacy between the legislature
and the executive with a possible competition
between executives.