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The defining characteristic of a presidential government is how the executive is elected, but nearly all presidential systems share the following features.
The term presidential system is often used in contrast to cabinet government, which is usually a feature of parliamentarism.
Countries with congressional and presidential systems include the United States, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, South Korea, and most countries in South America. The widespread use of presidentialism in the Americas has caused political scientists to dub the Americas as "the continent of presidentialism."
Many countries with a president as head of state do not operate under what is described as the presidential system. The most defining element of a presidential system being the degree in which the head of state participates in day-to-day governance.
Presidential governments make no distinction between the positions of Head of state and Head of government, both of which are held by the president. Most parliamentary governments have a symbolic Head of State in the form of a president or monarch. That person is responsible for the formalities of state functions as the figureheadA figurehead is a person, usually in a political role, who may hold an important title or office yet executes little actual power. Common figureheads include constitutional monarchs, such as the Emperor of Japan, or presidents in parliamentary democracies while the constitutionalThe Constitution of a given organisation defines its form, structure, activities, character, and fundamental rules. To view particular constitutions, refer to the list of national constitutions. The term comes from Latin constitutio which referred to any prerogatives as Head of Government are generally exercised by the Prime Minister. Such figurehead presidents tend to be elected in a much less direct manner than active, presidential system presidents, for example by a vote of the legislature.
There are also a few countries - the Czech RepublicThe Czech Republic ( Czech: Ceska republika is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The republic borders Poland to the north, Germany to the northwest and west, Austria to the south, and Slovakia to the east. Historic Prague, a major tourist attraction and South AfricaSouth Africa is a republic at the southern tip of Africa. It is bordered to the north by Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the north-east by Mozambique and Swaziland. Lesotho is contained entirely inside the borders of South Africa. South Africa is one o being examples - which have powerful presidents who are elected by the legislature. These presidents are chosen in the same way as a prime minister, yet are still heads of state and heads of government, and cannot be deposed early. This method of electing a president was a plank in Madison's Virginia PlanThe Virginia Plan was a proposal for the structure of the United States Government at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. Written by James Madison and proposed by Edmund Randolph (devised, however, by others), it pushed for a strong central government. and was seriously considered by the Framers of the American Constitution.
Some political scientists consider the conflation of head of state and head of government duties to be a problem of presidentialism because criticism of the president cum head of state is criticism of the state itself.
Presidents in presidential systems are always active participants in the political process, though the extent of their relative power may be influenced by the political makeup of the legislature and whether their supporters or opponents have the dominant position therein. In some presidential systems such as South Korea or the Republic of China (on Taiwan), there is an office of the prime minister or premier, but unlike semi-presidential or parliamentary systems, the premier is responsible to the president rather than to the legislature.
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