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Political executives are the part of the elected government which is responsible for directing policies. The executive branch along with the legislative branch is essential to political change.There are three archetypes of political executives: the UK with parliamentary institution, the French semi-presidential system and the USA presidential system. 

You may find that the heads of government, those who direct government on a day-to-day basis in the executive government, do not correspond to the heads of state whom assume more of a figurative role, for example the Queen. Executive governments are also formed by actors such as Presidents, Prime Ministers, Cabinets and may be seen as core executive or groups of actors which characterise public policy.

The executive branch is multifunctional as it executes and ensures the implementation of  laws passed. It is always in session - the government never sleeps – and it responds to crises, conducts foreign policy and provides public leadership of a polity.

Only the UK and Ireland state that holders of executive office must be members of the parliamentary system. Italy, France, Germany and USA say they may be, other countries do not hold this prerequisite.

Executive authority may be monocratic (e.g. in the US all executive is invested in president) or collegial (in the UK power is also distributed in the cabinet or an undemocratic example is in China, where authority is shared amongst several). 

There are three indicators to prove whether the executive is hierarchical or collegial. First, in hierarchical executives the decision is taken by leader alone, they do not go to others for ratification, and senior policy makers, heads of departments, are held accountable only for their department or those below them. Senior policy makers do not form a compact group, who share partisan, ideological or professional bonds unlike in a collegial executive, where they are responsible for broader outlook. 

POLITICAL EXECUTIVES – Examples:

The UK’s executive:

The UK's executive is the archetypal parliamentary system where the formation of the government is determined ultimately by the composition of the House of Commons. If one party in commons has majority is gets to govern. The political executive is located around a collective institution, the Cabinet, which comprises senior ministers, including the prime minister. The Cabinet evolved gradually, there was no constitutional moment. The Cabinet forces elites to ‘hang together’ which is underpinned by the doctrine of collective responsibility. Benjamin Franklin famously stated ‘we must all hang together, if not we hang separately’. The doctrine of collective responsibility assumes that every member of the Cabinet must in public defend the decisions of the Cabinet and they are all responsible for them. This is not to be confused with ministerial responsibility, the notion that every senior minister is responsible to their department and own actions. The UK system comprises prime minister, who is the leader of the largest parliamentary party, and the Chairman of the Cabinet. They are not substituted by mayors on short notice which is what happens in Italy. PMs are ‘primus inter pares’ for some, but their authority is clearly above that of others. 

The US archetypal presidential system:

The political executive is located in the office of the President. Article 2, section 1 of the US constitution clearly states that the ‘executive power shall be vested in a President of the USA’. The Vice-President has very few powers in comparison. Presidents are elected via Electoral Colleges for four year terms. There are age and birth requirements: you must be at least 35 and you need to be a citizen of US, born in the US and have US nationality. The president of US unlike UK is not actual leader of Congressional party and cannot command direct loyalty of legislators. They can be impeached by house and convincted by a 2/3 vote. The President is head of state and head of government, he is primus.

The French ‘dual’ executive:

The French executive is the archetypal semi-presidential system. The political executive is almost two head: there is a President who is populary elected with authority but there is also a PM and a Cabinet who are subject to the confidence of the legislative majority.  The political executive is located in PM and president. It is the directly elected executive president who appoints the PM but the national assembly can potentially remove the Prime Minister from power. there is an aligned government: the President usually dominates, choosing which areas to lead on. There can be periods of cohabitation in which the prime minister shares in leadership. The President has the power of dissolution and can dissolve the national assembly. 

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