The executive branch is made up of a head of government, commonly known as president or prime minister, followed in the hierarchy of power by a vice president or vice minister as the case may be, plus a ministerial, secretarial or departmental body.
Although these are the most frequently repeated figures, each state or government has its own distribution of powers and these are made up of the positions and components that its internal legislation dictates.
That is why the existence, name and functions of these structures vary in each State.
Executive Branch Division
The most common hierarchy of the power or executive body of the government of a State is the following:
Goverment's head
Also known as President of the Republic, President, Prime Minister, Federal Chancellor in the case of Germany and An Taoiseach for the Republic of Ireland.
He is the head of the executive branch, although it may be the case that the aforementioned figures coexist in the same political system.
From the comparison between the presidential system and the parliamentary system, interesting considerations arise regarding this figure and its functions.
In the presidential case, the head of government is the president, who is also the head of state. This increases his functions, becoming a one-man figure with a lot of political weight.
Likewise, in a parliamentary system, the head of state is a figure chosen by the parliament; generally the leader of the party with the greatest representation, it is there where the Prime Minister is born.
The latter usually holds the most decisive executive functions, limiting the powers of the president to foreign relations or public administration, as in the case of France.
In other countries, the nation's highest title of nobility, which may be king, prince, or monarch, can remove the role of chief of the armed forces from the president.
Vice president
It is a non-existent figure in some democracies, and with very different attributions within the systems that implement it.
In the case of the United States of America, it has two functions: to replace the president who can no longer perform functions due to absolute lack or incapacity and the tie-breaking vote in the Senate.
In Latin American democracies, the vice president is chosen as a "key" together with the president, designing together a government plan for a specific presidential term.
However, in the cases of Venezuela and Chile, the vice president is freely appointed or stripped by the head of state, since that is one of his functions.
In the case of Venezuela, it is a purely administrative function and even underestimated by some theorists.
In the event of an absolute failure, it is not he who assumes the presidential functions, but the president of the parliament.
In democracies like Switzerland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, presidential functions are chosen in a college, a group of people work in a joint cabinet.
None of them has a designated vice president, but rather each member of the rotating college who is not in the position of president is a virtual vice president.
Ministers
Also known as ministries, secretariats or departments. They are executive and administrative functions attached to the government itself, so specific and at the same time so important that they cannot be assumed by a single man.
Education, finance, foreign relations in presidential democracies (chancellor), sports are some of the administrative topics that usually have their own ministry.
Unlike the first two positions, this politician has very specific knowledge in one area.
Each country has ministries, departments or secretariats according to the needs or interests of the nation.
For example, Canada has a youth ministry and Venezuela has a ministry for supreme happiness and another for Afro-descendants.
References
- Castillo Freyre, M. (1997). All the powers of the president: ethics and right in the exercise of the presidency. Lima: PUCP Editorial Fund.
- Guzmán Napurí, C. (2003). Government relations between the executive branch and the parliament. Lima: PUCP Editorial Fund.
- Loaiza Gallón, H. (2004). State government and public management. Bogotá: Santo Tomas University.
- Mijares Sánchez, MR (2011). Forms of Government: Lessons in Political Theory. Bloomington: Xlibris.
- Paige Whitaker, L. (2011). Nomination and Election of the President and Vice President of the United States, 2008, Including the Manner of Selecting Delegates to National Party Conventions. Washington: Government Printing Office.
- White, G. (2011). Cabinets and First Ministers. Vancouver: UBC Press.