Prime Minister versus President

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Tim Hammersmith

11/17/08

POLS 171

Jesse

Week 9

Siaroff, Ch. 6 (pg. 141-171)

Question: What works better, a President or a Prime Minister?

A nation's type of government refers to how that state's executive, legislative, and judicial organs are organized. All nations need some sort of government to avoid anarchy. Democratic governments are those that permit the nation's citizens to manage their government either directly or through elected representatives. This is opposed to authoritarian governments that limit or prohibit the direct participation of its citizens. Two of the most popular types of democratic governments are the presidential and parliamentary systems.

According to Alan Siaroff, in a presidential system, "the position of head of government (the one who runs the country) and head of state (the symbolic national head) are fused in the single office of the president" (Siaroff, 2005). Within a presedential system, "the president is chosen seperately from the legislature (even if on the same day), making the president independent from the legislature in terms of political survival (and vice-versa)" (Siaroff, 2005). What makes a presidential system unique is the president is elected for a fixed term of a