The state, as a legal mechanism, has a number of characteristics, among which the form of government stands out. This category implies the presence of two large sections - monarchies and republics.
The category "Republic", in turn, is divided into parliamentary, presidential and mixed. A mixed republic is an ambiguous form of government, the study of which requires special attention. And in order to understand what it is, it is necessary to consider its main characteristics and types.
What is a mixed republic?
The republic, as a form of government, is determined by the mediated power of the people of the country. This means that all the highest bodies of state power (Parliament and the President) are elected by the citizens of the country. However, depending on who forms the government, the type of republic also depends. A mixed republic stands out among them.
This category is most characteristic for states in transition of the political regime, but can also be found in countries with stable democratic traditions.
The most characteristic features of a mixed republic are:
- Election by direct popular vote of both the President and the Parliament.
- The legislative body and the head of state are endowed with almost equal powers in governing the country.
- The government reports to parliament, but bears full responsibility for its actions to the President, who is actually the head of the executive body.
- The role of the prime minister is to carry out management assignments from the president.
- The existence of a mechanism of “checks and balances”, in which the parliament has the right to resign the government, in turn, the elected head of state, in response to express a vote of no confidence and dissolve the legislative body. Moreover, the government resigns only with the prime minister, but not with the president.
- The arbiter in the relations between these two supreme bodies of state power is the Constitutional Court.
Depending on how the powers of the president and parliament are distributed, two types of mixed republics are distinguished - semi-presidential and semi-parliamentary.
A semi-presidential mixed republic , with France and Poland as examples of its classic functioning, is based on the president’s enhanced role in government. According to some authors, this type is most characteristic of countries in which the role of the head of state as a leader of the nation is great and in which the transition from a parliamentary republic to a classical presidential one is noticeable. It is worth noting that this form of government is inherent in the CIS countries, for example, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Belarus, Ukraine.
A semi-parliamentary mixed republic is most characteristic of countries where processes of “promoting a strong parliament” and the formation of a parliamentary republic are underway . In this case, the legislature is endowed with a certain form of vote of no confidence: a vote of the individual minister (Uruguay) or the prime minister indicating a possible successor (Germany).
Thus, a mixed republic is a special transitional form of government characterized by a gradual strengthening of the parliament or president. Sometimes this form of government is mistakenly attributed to mixed (or atypical) forms of government.
Mixed forms of government .
As noted earlier, the form of government has two main types - the monarchy and the republic. However, the diversity of state formations and the historically established manner of management emphasize a special kind - mixed forms of government. These include monarchies with republican elements and republics with monarchist attributes.
A monarchy with republican elements is of the following types:
- An elected monarchy - in this case, the ruler is elected on a rotational basis. An example is the UAE and Malaysia.
- The constitutional monarchy , in which the monarch inherits his power and is the representative of the state, and government bodies are elected by the people - Great Britain, Japan, Sweden can serve as an example. However, the allocation of this type in the form of a mixed form of government is very controversial.
A republic with monarchical elements is represented by the following list:
- Super - presidential - the head of state de facto has the authority of a monarch in an absolute monarchy. An example is North Korea.
- Islamic Republic - elements of monarchism are embodied in disobedience of the head of spiritual authority to the will of the people. The clearest example is Iran.
A mixed republic, the examples and characteristics of which were presented above, is a special form of governing the country, which allows it to switch from one type of government to another without special civil upheavals. Moreover, the constitutional mechanisms operating in the state ensure the legality and legitimacy of the transition.