Why American presidential system is successfull

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The main principle of presidential system which was devised in the Constitution of the United States by their Founding Fathers for the first time is the separation of powers. In America, the separation of powers is applied both horizontally and vertically. Horizontally, the government is divided into three branches comprising the Legislative (Congress), the Executive (president), and the Judicial (Supreme Court) powers. The problems that arise between them are resolved by the Federal Supreme Court. In terms of vertical separation of powers, US is divided to 50 states and one federal territory. Each state has its legislative, executive, and judicial bodies. The system which had been inherited by the founding leaders of the United States using the theory of separation of powers by Jhon Locke and Charles-Louis Montesquieu is based on the balancing and controlling of the legislative and executive branches of government. This mechanism is called «chechks and balances». «Chechks and balances» does not allow the branches of government to act outside the constitutional laws. Although the presidential administration has been applied in many countries around the world, these countries have not been as successful as the United States. The article has been dedicated to research the reasons for USA's being democratic, having the right working mechanism of «chechks and balances» system that is nowhere in the world. Based on current political experience, the factors that give positive impetus to this system in US involving in this paper were listed systematically, with taking into consideration election system, party structure, political culture, the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms.

The consept of presidential government which is also called «American model» was first used in the works of the British writers to express the political system existing in the US before the Civil War (1861-1865) [11, s. 9]. US President Woodrow Wilson described the American system as «congressional government». The main purpose of the US Constitution of 1787, was to balance the power. The theory of separation of powers by Locke and Montesquieu was first reflected in that constitution [9, s. 87]. This constitution has benefited from the English parliamentary system. The brutal steps of the British parliament and the king in the struggle against the British had led to the limitation of the relevant powers in the US Constitution. For this purpose, the mechanism of checks and balances between the powers had been put forward [7, s. 20]. James Madison's efforts were able to convince the state actors that the mechanism of «chechks and balances» was an important factor in the sustainable use of the separation of powers. According to Madison, state power could only be restricted by this mechanism. The main features of the American constitution involves rule of law; separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers; cheks and balances among them; separation of powers between federal system and states; protection of civil rights [1, s. 55-57].

Because of executive power is superior in reality among these powers which legally are equal, this form of government is called the presidential system. Independence is the fundamental principle of the legislative and executive bodies' power and functioning. Presidential system has 3 most important features in US sample. First out of them is strong separation of powers, second is the superiority of the executive power over the legislature; third is the control among these branches. In this system, president can not abolish parliament, while parliament can not dismiss president in normal circumstances [9, s. 86-87].

The head of executive power in the US is the president. He/she exercises his powers alone and has no responsibility before the Congress. The powers of the President are determined by the Federal Constitution and distributed among the governors [17, s. 57]. The President has political immunity and reports to the public with elections held every four years. The place where the principle of separation of powers is most widely used in presidential system is presidential elections. In this system both president and parliament are selected by people directly or indirectly. Voters do not elect the president directly in the elections. According to the Constitution, the people who vote for the president actually choose the «electoral college» consisting of 538 people and they elect president. The number of voters of «electoral college» is equal to the combined total of the state's membership in the Senate and House of Representatives [17, s. 60] (respectively, 100 and 438 members).

The President does not have the authority to introduce legislative proposals except the budget. He/she may only send messages to legislature on other issues. President can also issue executive order and Congress can change it by law. Congress can overturn a presidential veto with a two-third majority in both houses [10, s. 147]. Establishing international relations, signing international treaties and appointing diplomatic representatives are issued by a president with the «advice and consent» of a majority of the Senate. A treaty with foreign countries signed by president is ratified only if at least two-thirds of the Senate votes in favour of it. Supreme Court members are nominated by president with Senate confirmation. President is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He/she decides where, how and when the Armed Forces will be used. From the lowest ranking to the highest one, all officials are appointed by the president. The president may amnesty the detainees in violation of federal laws [17, s. 64-65].

Cabinet of Ministers is consisted of 20 persons, 13 out of them are secretaries, 7 out of them are advisers. In the parliamentary systems, without the signature of each of the ministers the Cabinet can not make a decision, while in this system, secretaries of the president's cabinet have no authority to comment on the president's decisions. President has authority to appoint and fire members of the Cabinet [6, s. 243]. The Cabinet is set up by the leader of the party that won the most votes in the elections, nominated by president and presented to the Senate for confirmation. The secretaries fulfill the president's orders, supervise the affairs, and conduct consultations. Secretaries can not continue their membership in the legislature after they have been elected. Secretaries are responsible not to the Congress but to the president.

Federal legislative body-Congress is consisted of Senate and House of Representatives. One example of a strong separation of powers in the United States is that parliamentarians can not function in the executive [1, s. 53]. Although there is separation of powers between the two chambers, the consent of both chambers in the law-making process is important [10, s. 146]. The constitutional powers of the congress are considerably broader. However, the powers of the US Congress are lower than the parliaments of unitary states such as Azerbaijan or Turkey, as Congress distributed its legislative powers with the legislatures of the states.

In the American constitution, the legislature has two important powers, such as budgeting and lawmaking. This body also controls the proper use of the budget, even though the constitution does not involve this rule. One of the key positions within the chambers' powers is to control the financial field. This is called the «purse power» of the United States. According to the Constitution, all draft laws on state revenues should be put forward by the House of Representatives, but the Senate can only propose amendments to these projects and participate in the draft discussion. This right gives certain advantages to the House of Representatives when dealing financial matters. The Senate is free to accept financial laws or not. If no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes for President, the House of Representatives chooses the winner. (In US history, the House of Representatives used this right twice: 1801 and 1825). If this situation happens for vice-president, Senate uses this right [4].

The Congress has the right to declare war, to formulate and to allocate funds for the armed forces. One of the important powers of the Senate is to take international obligations in the form of US Treaties and to appoint high-ranking officials in the state apparatus. The president may sign international treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate through approval of 1/2 of the Senators. The Senate may make a full acceptance of the contract, and may make it acceptable by amendments or additions and has right not accept fully [5, s. 94]. The Senate rarely disputes with the appointment of the president's high government posts. However, it is often the case that the candidates to the Supreme Court are not approved always. Appointment to the office of the White House is out of power of the Senate.

The president is not responsible to the Congress, but his prosecution and conviction is under the jurisdiction of the legislature. The Congress also checks the activities of the president through inquiry commissions. The reports of these commissions are publicly disclosed. The president may be dismissed by impeachment on conviction of treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors. The chambers' powers are divided on this issue. The president, charged by the House of Representatives, can be convicted by a 2/3 majority vote by the Senate. In this case, re-elections are not held until the end of certain time and the vice-president is replaced as president by the Senate [5, s. 94]. Although the Supreme Court's chairman and members, ministers, senior officials are appointed by the president, the Senate's confirmation is crucial. The ratification of international treaties is carried out with the approval of 2/3 majority of the Senate [4]. The President can veto the legislative process. But the Senate can override veto with the 2/3 majority of two chambers. The president has power to «on extraordinary occasions, convene both chambers or either of them [16, s. 65].

Judicial power is vested by law bodies or courts. The function of the court which is consisted of the Supreme Court and inferior courts, is to interpret federal laws and statutes along with the US Constitution. This includes also the settlement of conflicts between executive and legislative authorities [11, s. 53-54].

Principles of governance in the United States are not same with other states which governed with presidential system. For instance, 1) having right of legislative initiative of president, 2) not electing more than twice. According to the constitution, the president of Azerbaijan which governed with presidential system, has right of legislative initiative [2]. There is also a difference in the appointment of the prime minister in the two countries' governance. The appointment of the prime minister by the Azerbaijani president is presented to the parliament. If the parliament does not approve the candidate three times, the president has the right to appoint it without the approval of the legislative body [2]. Difference in the issue of dismissing the president through impeachment is that, in Azerbaijan the initiation of this procedure is commenced by the Constitutional Court [2].

Apparently, it is not possible to imagine the US federal presidential system without a mechanism of «checks and balances». The federal system based on the principle of «checks and balances» prevents branches of power from authoritarianism and dictatorship. The President, the Congress, and the supreme judicial bodies have the power to carry out their duties, as well as to check and balance each other. These authorities which prove «checks and balances» mechanism in US can be systematized as follows: Approval of the Senate with President's presentation on the appointing and dismissing federal officials (vice presidents, judges, ambassadors, etc.); Choosing president by the House of Representatives if no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes; Choosing Vice President by the Senate if no candidate receives an absolute majority of the votes; Having veto power to law proposals by president; Being the head of the Senate of vicepresident; dismissing of the president by Congress through; Confirming ratification of international treaties, declaration of war and peace by the Senate, even if they are president's authorities; submitting the budget for the approval of the legislative power by the executive authority and the right of Congress to accept it or not; Investigating the activities of the executive power by Congress; Announcing proposals by president that are necessary for the Congress to be adopted at the meeting of both chambers in January of each year, even if president has not direct legislative initiative; control of courts over the constitutionality of laws, the trial of the members of the court by the Senate.

Although the presidential administration system has many advantages, but the results would be more severe than other systems if there were no suitable conditions for this system. President may lead to authoritarianism because of having more powers [14, s. 180], as winner take all, loser take nothing. The fixed term of president office may make him become very unresponsive to public opinion. Not having right to be elected more than twice may prevent the successful politicians from pursuing their career, as well as may lead the president in power to ignore the demands of the opposition [11, s. 7]. Xususon do votonda§ comiyyoti, demokratik modoniyyotin formala§madigi, tohsil soviyyosinin, adamba§i milli golirin a§agi oldugu, prezidento bagli siyasi partiyalann parlamentdo hokmran oldugu olkolordo, mosolon, Latin Amerikasinda prezidentlor rahatliqla §oxsi hakimiyyot yarada bilirlor. Presidents can easily create personal power specially in the countries, (for instance Latin American countries), in which civil society, democratic culture has not been formed, education level and per capita income is low, political parties related to the president are dominant in parliament. In spite of these disadvantages, withstanding ability of US system about these issues was regarded by Juan Linz as a «specific democracy» [14, s. 181]. In this paragraph it will listed the reasons leading to make American presidential system success full:

1) Local governments of the member states are responsible for all services related to government, except for some powers (foreign relations, national defense, federal justice, postal and transport, financial policy). Each state has established a local governance system based on the active political participation and control of the local people within the framework of the constitution. Each state has the Bill of Rights, governors, executive and legislative bodies. Except for the state of Nebraska, legislative body in all states is bicameral. There is a separation of powers between the municipal council and the mayor in the local government. Most states have empowered local governments, especially municipalities, to draft their own home rule and they have broad administrative and financial autonomy. However, the double sovereignty between the federal government and states of the United States is not valid for relations between the states and local governments. Even though local governments have financial and administrative autonomy, they do not have the same advantage as states. Local governments have considerable authority over matters such as organizational structures, tax collection, and local services in a broader range. In addition, the strong local governance and the strong local councils can be regarded as a factor balancing the governor's and the president's authority.

2) The second reason for the success of the system is the fact that large and small states are represented at the federal level. 435 representatives of the House of Representatives are elected for a two-year term; in the Senate consisted of two representatives from each state (totally 100) are elected for a six-year term and 1/3 of them go out every second year [3, s. 58]. This is a way of protecting the rights of minorities with respect to the majority. This is the basis of the democratic principles of the American system. Thus, the will of the people is reflected in the two chambers for a two-year period, and in the Senate six-year period is for durability.

3) The third reason is that civil society organizations, lobbies, pressure and interest groups are effective in all aspects of the American federal system. The lobbies have mediation in solving the tensions between legislative and executive powers. These groups are an integral part of pluralistic democracy [13, s. 43]. All this has had a positive effect on civil society organizations and has led to an increase in the number of members.

4) US political parties which have weak party discipline and lack of tough organisation, are one of the reasons for the success of presidential administration. Such a structure of parties minimizes disagreements between the president and the Congress. In the countries with lack of reconciliation culture (such as in Latin America, Africa, and Asia), if the president and parliamentary majority are from different parties, it causes conflicts in politics and system lockdowns [11, s. 8]. Thus, the party system and the weakness of the political culture dominated by the subordination relations create polarization, which can cause the system to be locked. According to Giovanni Sartori, the main reason for the failure of the presidential administration in Latin American countries is that the party system is incompatible with this administration [8, s. 286]. But in such situation, US president is usually (not always) ableto get the support of opposition lawmakers to adopt the laws and to approve budget.

5) The weak discipline of political parties is connected with the federal structure of the United States, on the other hand, the election way of the candidate. The federal structure complicates the tough organization process under the influence of US political traditions. Candidates for the Congress are determined by closed or open elections at the first stage. In the closed election the party members determine the candidate; in the open election, all voters regardless of whether they belong to the party or not, determine the candidate. This first stage of elections (preelection) keeps Congress members away from the party's influence. Therefore, the party chairman and presidential candidates do not know which candidate will be elected in the electoral district. According to the election law, every candidate is elected by a majoritarian election system with a single-mandate constituency. Candidates are not indebted to the party chairman or the president because they are selected for their own activities and successes, for their reputation in the electoral district. In contrast, chairpersons and presidential candidates need support from MPs. In this case, the American Congress entirely fulfills the mechanism of control over the executive power in accordance with the principle of separation of powers.

6) One of the reasons of success of US administration is the culture of pluralistic democracy that has been shaping for many years. Values and principles such as the rule of the majority, the protection of minority opinions, pluralism, competition, cooperation, dignity and success, individuality, equality, justice and freedom are the basis of this culture of democracy. This system represents pluralism not majoritarism.

But there are cases when the principle of separation of powers in the United States has been violated. Even in the United States, which is an ideal example of this governance, there were cases when the other branches of government stayed under influence of the president. For example, the US President may appoint judges in the same political view to judicial authorities [13, s. 37] and ultimately leads judges to make decisions according to the views of the president. In this case, the principle of independence and impartiality of the court is considered to have been violated. In the United States, it has also been seen that the presidents influenced Congress members through messages and secret meetings to pass the Budget Law through the Congress. Additionally, if these two powers differ from their political viewpoints, the cooperation between them will be eliminated and the system will be locked. When George Bush (1988-92) was president, Congress had a majority of Democratic Party. During this period Bush prevented the adoption of many proposals by vetoing it. In 1995 Bill Clinton from Democratic Party and Republican-controlled Congress did not even agree on the budget project [12]. All executive departments and federal agencies were shut for 21 days. President Donald Trump, who was fighting a Congress controlled by the Democrats for funding the construction of a US-Mexico border wall, has broken Clinton's record with 26 day-period [18]. In addition, the decision to declare war is authority of the Congress, but in American history more than 200 times presidents started military operations without the Congress's approval [11, s. 80]. For example, President Johnson had started a war in Vietnam without the Congress's approval. Ronald Reagan created a fund to overthrow the government in Nicaragua by selling arms to Iran in 1986, without Congress [15, s. 284].

The September 11 terrorist attack also led to the increase of president's role in the defense of the state. From this point of view, Samuel P. Huntington has suggested that the American system is gradually moving away from the separation of powers. Huntington argues this allegation with the fact that, between 1882 and 1909 - 55%, 1910 and 1932 - %46, 1933 and 1940 - %8 of the basic law drafts originated from the Congress. This means that the influence of the executive power on the legislative power is increasing [12].

In spite of all this, we can say with certainty that the US presidential administration has democratic mechanisms that is nowhere in the world. Even though certain problems exist, the system that has been built over 250 years prevents the system from being able to cause problems and cause system lockouts.

Result. Having the right working mechanism of checks and balances system due to historical conditions of the country, party system, presence of pressure groups, political culture away from ideological and ethnic polarization is the success reason of not only presidential government, but also federal system and local government in US. The coexistence of these factors is not observed in all countries. Thus, while saying «presidential» government, first of all US comes to mind. Even the countries that prefer the presidential system take the example of the United States. Describing the model of the US federal presidential system is not possible without understanding the «checks and balances» mechanism. The horizontal and vertical separation of powers in the political system, the structure of the federal states, the political party system and the form of parties, the reconciling political culture and civil society organizations (including lobbies) have also led to the specialization of the US presidential government. All these factors must be taken into account in order to properly evaluate the US governance system.

The success of the presidential administration in the United States is not enough to say that this type of government is superior to the parliamentary system.

Regardless of the nature of the relationship between the branches of powers, if the factors such as rule of law, functioning mechanisms of fundamental rights and freedoms, judicial control system, civil society, political culture don't operate in right way, we cant talk about democracy. In this regard, common feature between the most successful example of presidential administration US and the most successful example of parliamentary governance UK is the similarity of party and election systems which are basic principles of the government.

References

presidential government american

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2. Azsrbaycan Respublikasinin Konstitusiyasi'. http://www.e- qanun.az/framework/897

3. Calabresi, S. `The Virtues of Presidential Government: Why Professor Ackerman is Wrong to Prefer the German to the U.S. Constitution'. https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/ handle/n299/168100/18_01_Calabresi.pdf;sequence=1?fbclid= IwAR0ysaYZ37HaVfFoYMxG2XKCGUaPBl5LgDjx_qITJsF- CipCZ8PL_oQ-e5E

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7. Shugart, `Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, and the Provision of Collective Goods in Less-Developed Countries', s.57. https://slideheaven.com/presidentialism-parliamentarism-and-the- provision-of-collective-goods-in-less-de.html

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