The presidential regime is a representative political regime whose Constitution organizes the Séparation of the capacities executive, legislative, and legal. One speaks about a strict separation between the capacities.

Contrary to the parliamentary Régime, it does not have there a political responsibility of the executive in front of the legislature, i.e. the Government cannot be reversed by the Parlement. And symmetrically the executive power cannot dissolve the Parliament.

The executive power and legislative are elected both and separately, and are thus also legitimate (within the meaning of the right). The judicial power, which can be brought to arbitrate the disagreements between the other capacities thus has a particularly important place.

The model of the presidential regime is provided by the Constitution of the United States of America and inspired the majority of the modes of the American continent, except notable for the Canada, which has a parliamentary mode of British inspiration. However, it is the only mode authentically presidential, this is why Jean Gicquel speaks about “solitary success” . In other words, it is out of reach imitateurs.

Not providing a decisive means to solve the dissensions between the executive and the legislature, the mode is prone to blockings, corresponding besides to the liberal opinions of the writers of the Constitution of the United States, anxious to warn a too powerful Government. The crises in general are avoided there or overcome thanks to a broad consensus on the mode, a tradition of compromise between the parties, and the frequent elections. In other countries of the continent, for lack of this consensus, the crises were numerous often leading to coups d'etat. The principles of the mode were also often diverted while giving or making it possible to the president to take legislative measures by Décret.

One of the characteristics of the presidential regime is that he obeys a strict separation of the capacities, contrary to the parliamentary mode, which obeys to him a “collaboration of the capacities”, in other words to a flexible separation of the capacities.

It should be added however that the strict separation of the capacities really does not exist, because in the United States the president can stop the congress by using his right to veto, even if this one remains limited, and that contrary the congress can stop the presidential policy in progress while refusing some to vote the budget. M.F TOINET written in the political system of the United States which should be differentiated the various structures to oblige them to go together. The strict separation of the capacities is a theory, but in practice it really does not apply.

See too

• constitutional Law
• Government
• Separation of the capacities

External bond

• Droitconstitutionnel.net, course written by Olivier Camy, part-time lecturer to the IEP Paris.