1. President or Prime Minister?

2. President or Prime Minister?
U.S. President Z. Taylor Russian President V. Putin

3. President or Prime Minister

4. President or Prime Minister
UK prime ministers Sir G. Kneller and David Cameron

5. President or Prime Minister?

6. President or Prime Minister?
Prime Minister Theresa May President of France Emmanuel Macron

7. President or Prime Minister?

8. President or Prime Minister?
US Presidents John Quincy Adams and John Tyler

9. The Executive and the Legislature:
Presidential or Parliamentary?

10. Branches of Government
In the United States our government is formed like a tree.
There are branches that develop to identify the different jobs the government is responsible for carrying out.

11. Legislative branch
The Legislative branch of government is responsible for making the laws for a country, state or town.
In the US, our national lawmaking body is the Congress. In the United Kingdom their legislative branch is the Parliament.

12. Executive Branch
The Executive branch is responsible for carrying out or enforcing the laws.
The head of the Executive branch is considered the head of the country.

13. Judicial Branch
The judicial branch is set up in a country to have courts interpret the laws and settle disputes.

14. How Do They Work Together?
Depending on the country, governments may be either set up as presidential , parliamentary or a combination of both forms
One type separates the branches while the other combines them.

15. Presidential Government
The United States has the presidential form of government.
This form of government is based on a separation of powers.
The executive branch of government is kept completely separate from the legislative branch.

16. Presidential Restrictions
The President is elected by voters.
The members of the legislature are also elected.
Usually the President and legislators are elected for fixed terms.
The President and all government officials appointed by the President, are prohibited from serving in the legislature while serving in the executive branch.

17. Opposition
If the President’s party is not the majority party in Congress, a “divided government” occurs.
The executive and legislative branches come under the control of opposing parties.
This makes it hard to pass legislation or to take other actions. Each branch checks the other.

18. Whom else?
In addition to the United States, other countries with the presidential system of government include Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and South Korea.
President Enrique Peña Nieto

19. Parliamentary Government
In a parliamentary government, there is no direct election of the executive branch by voters.
Voters only elect the members of parliament (the legislature).
Then the members of parliament elect the head of the executive branch—known as the “prime minister.”
The prime minister in turn selects other members of parliament to head executive departments and to serve on the cabinet.

20. Branches overlap
In this system of government, members of the majority party in the legislature are placed in charge of the executive branch.
Since they also remain in the legislature, these ministers are available to explain their policies and to answer questions to other legislators at any time.

21. Prime Minister
A prime minister does not usually serve for a fixed term of office. A prime minister serves for as long as he or she has the confidence of parliament.
If a member of parliament believes the prime minister no longer has the support of parliament, the member calls for a “vote of no confidence.” If the prime minister loses the vote, the prime minister and the cabinet officers must resign their offices.

22. Working together
Because the Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party in Parliament, there is never any divided government in which the executive and legislative branches are controlled by different parties.
Passage of legislation is easier because the Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party in parliament and they share his views.

23. In the UK… The United Kingdom has a parliamentary form of government.
During a general election, voters elect the members of the House of Commons (the lower house of Parliament).
These members then choose the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons as Prime Minister.
If no party has a majority, then several parties will act together in a coalition government.
In the summer of 2017 no party had a
majority but the Conservative party joined
with the DUP, formed a coalition and
stayed in power.

24. Staying in power
The British Prime Minister then chooses other members to act as cabinet ministers.
The Prime Minister and cabinet remain in office until they resign, lose “a vote of no confidence,” or lose in a general election.

25. How long are you staying
Members of Parliament hold their seats until the Prime Minister calls another general election.
These are held at least once every five years, but can be more often.
In a general election, every seat in the House of Commons is up for election at once.

26. Whom else ?
Other countries with parliamentary systems include Bangladesh, Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey

27. The Combo deal
A few countries have tried to combine the parliamentary and presidential forms of government.
France, for example, has both an elected president and an appointed prime minister.
The President serves for a period of five years. The President appoints the Prime Minister from the majority party in the French legislature—the National Assembly.

28. Two Heads
The French President and Prime Minister share the duties of government.
If the Prime Minister loses control of the National Assembly, the French President must appoint a new Prime Minister from the new majority party.

29. Whom Else?
Other countries with both a President and Prime Minister include Cameroon, Kazakhstan, Peru, Russia and Uganda.