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CHAPTER SIX: Political Institutions: Governing

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Political institutions, such as those that make up the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, are essential to the functioning of government and to understanding politics. Most modern states have written constitutions that define the formal powers of their governmental institutions. However, these formal powers do not always translate directly into actual power. The social, cultural, and historical contexts in which formal institutions exist can have significant bearing on how institutions function in practice. This chapter examines such questions as whether certain institutional arrangements achieve greater political accountability and whether one branch of government is being strengthened by such trends as the increasing complexity of governance.

The executive and legislative branches are discussed together because their relationship helps distinguish different models of democratic government: parliamentarism, presidentialism, and semipresidentialism. The judiciary is the least studied branch of government in comparative politics. On a daily basis, its job is to enforce a state's laws, but its more important political role is interpreting those laws, particularly the state's constitution.

All states have an executive branch that includes a bureaucracy of some sort. The ideal modern bureaucracy would consist of officials appointed on the basis of merit and expertise who implemented policies lawfully, treated all citizens equally according to the relevant laws, and were held accountable by the elected head of the executive branch.