Latin America: Government 1

Parliamentary and Presidential Democracies 2

Democratic Government Democratic governments are called democracies In a democracy, the government is elected by the people

Citizens play an active role in government by voting for representatives There are two basic types of democratic government: * Parliamentary * Presidential

Parliamentary Democracy Government system with a legislature called the Parliament The Parliament is usually elected by the people of the country Executive power is made up of a prime minister and a cabinet – however, not all Parliamentary systems have a prime minister 5

The prime minister is selected by the largest political group in the Parliament Cabinet is often selected by prime minister with approval of Parliament Prime Minister and cabinet are subject to the legislature’s (Parliament’s) direct control 6

Presidential Democracy Features a separation of powers –executive power and legislative power are independent and coequal Each checks the actions of the other 7

Executive power is made up of a president President is chosen independently from the legislature President is not subject to direct control of the legislature 8