What is the relationship between the legislative and executive branches presidential?

Do the relations of a country’s governing institutions differ depending on whether it has a presidential, parliamentary or hybrid political system? Is it possible to draw general conclusions? This study from United Nations Development Program (UNDP) suggests that generalisations are useful for helping to determine characteristics of political systems of other nations, although actual practice varies between nations within each type. The report seeks to highlight these characteristics.

Although each country has its own variance on presidential, parliamentary or hybrid political systems, some conclusions can be drawn about the characteristics of each of these systems and their relationship to political conflict and executive and legislative power. With the exception of the United States of America (US), presidential systems in the past have often been associated with politically unstable and authoritarian regimes. Many countries that the US has influenced regionally, culturally or militarily have a presidential system. Countries that have adopted a form of the parliamentarianism include the United Kingdom (UK), much of continental Europe, Israel, Japan and many of the former British colonies. The French hybrid system has provided a model for a number of countries including former French colonies. The Portuguese hybrid system has influenced former colonies like Mozambique and Angola.

The research highlights the following the key aspects of executive-legislative relations:

  • The separation of powers – the extent to which the powers of government are separated functionally between branches.
  • The extent that the executive can control the legislative branch or how much the legislature can control the executive (oversight) and the extent that the legislative branch controls the capacity to legislate.
  • Removal from office – a key difference between presidential and parliamentary systems lies in the power to remove a chief executive or to dissolve the legislature.
  • The structure of legislative parties and leadership – the influence that the governing system has on the structures developed by parties in the legislature; degree of hierarchical control, internal discipline, and latitude for openness to representing local differences.
  • Party discipline is needed to keep control of the executive, a need that varies among the three systems.
  • In parliamentary, presidential and hybrid systems, the legislature is a forum for discussion of political, economic and social issues and is required to legitimise new laws.

Key differences between presidential, parliamentary and hybrid systems include the following:

  • In a presidential system, political and administrative powers are divided between the executive, legislative and judicial branches. Officials in these branches serve different terms of office and different constituencies.
  • In a parliamentary system, Parliament is sovereign and executive authority (exercised by the Prime Minister and Cabinet) is derived from the legislature. In a hybrid system, executive power is shared between a separately elected President and a Prime Minister.
  • In parliamentary systems, the chief executive’s term of office is directly linked with that of the legislature, while in presidential systems the terms are not linked.
  • In countries that are transitioning to a two or multiparty system, party discipline may be generally weak owing to the fact that parties may be newer, lack a strong internal structure and constituent base and/or lack experience in operating in a multiparty legislature.
  • Discipline is typically stronger in parliamentary systems than in presidential systems because the ‘executive’ government requires majority party cohesiveness for its own survival.
  • One of the major differences between these systems lies in the legislature’s power (or lack thereof) to formulate and initiate legislation.

Our federal government has three parts. They are the Executive, (President and about 5,000,000 workers) Legislative (Senate and House of Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts).

The President of the United States administers the Executive Branch of our government. The President enforces the laws that the Legislative Branch (Congress) makes. The President is elected by United States citizens, 18 years of age and older, who vote in the presidential elections in their states. These votes are tallied by states and form the Electoral College system. States have the number of electoral votes which equal the number of senators and representatives they have. It is possible to have the most popular votes throughout the nation and NOT win the electoral vote of the Electoral College.

The Legislative part of our government is called Congress. Congress makes our laws. Congress is divided into 2 parts. One part is called the Senate. There are 100 Senators--2 from each of our states. Another part is called the House of Representatives. Representatives meet together to discuss ideas and decide if these ideas (bills) should become laws. There are 435 Representatives. The number of representatives each state gets is determined by its population. Some states have just 2 representatives. Others have as many as 40. Both senators and representatives are elected by the eligible voters in their states.

The Judicial part of our federal government includes the Supreme Court and 9 Justices. They are special judges who interpret laws according to the Constitution. These justices only hear cases that pertain to issues related to the Constitution. They are the highest court in our country. The federal judicial system also has lower courts located in each state to hear cases involving federal issues.

All three parts of our federal government have their main headquarters in the city of Washington D.C.

What is the relationship between executive and legislative branches in a presidential government?

Legislative—Makes laws (Congress, comprised of the House of Representatives and Senate) Executive—Carries out laws (president, vice president, Cabinet, most federal agencies) Judicial—Evaluates laws (Supreme Court and other courts)

What is the relationship between the executive and the legislature?

The executive branch is responsible for implementing and administering the public policy enacted and funded by the legislative branch.

Why is the relationship between the executive and legislative branches useful?

Why is the relationship between the executive and legislative branches a useful way to classify governments? you have to have a balance between the two because it depends on the number of persons who can take part in the governing process.