2.3 Executive Systems

Executives set the policy agenda, propose budgets, run government departments, conduct foreign policy and command the armed forces. Many can issue decrees, which are orders with the force of law. The cabinet is the group of top ministers who lead departments. In the UK cabinet members follow collective responsibility: they must publicly support cabinet decisions or resign.

• UK: The prime minister leads the cabinet, chooses and dismisses ministers and uses powers that legally belong to the monarch (the royal prerogative), such as deploying troops and signing treaties. The prime minister sets the foreign policy agenda, heads the civil service and can ask the monarch to dissolve Parliament for an early election, a power restored by a 2022 law. The monarch's role is ceremonial; the monarch formally appoints as prime minister the leader who can command a Commons majority, and by convention the monarch follows the prime minister's advice.
• Mexico: The president is head of state and government, elected for one six-year term (the sexenio). The president proposes most major legislation and the budget, appoints the cabinet, leads the federal bureaucracy and foreign policy, and commands the military.
• Nigeria: The president is head of state and government and commander-in-chief, elected for up to two four-year terms. The president heads the civil service and conducts foreign policy. Ministers need Senate confirmation, and the constitution requires at least one minister from every state.
• Russia: The president sets foreign and security policy, appoints the prime minister with the Duma's approval, appoints the defense, foreign and security ministers after consulting the Federation Council, can dismiss the government, issues decrees and commands the military. The prime minister runs the economy and day-to-day government.
• Iran: The Supreme Leader is the top authority. The Supreme Leader commands the armed forces, including the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC); appoints the head of the judiciary, six of the twelve members of the Guardian Council, the head of state broadcasting and the members of the Expediency Council; and sets overall policy. The president, elected for up to two four-year terms in a row, runs the cabinet, the budget and the civil service and conducts day-to-day foreign policy; ministers need Majles approval.
• China: The General Secretary of the Communist Party is the top leader and also holds the state presidency and chairs the Central Military Commission. As state president, the leader nominates the premier, whom the National People's Congress confirms. The premier heads the State Council, the government's cabinet. Changes in top leadership are settled behind closed doors inside the party. Real decisions are made in the Politburo Standing Committee, a small group at the top of the party.

Titles can mislead. China's state president is a weak office on paper; its holder is powerful because of the party post. In Russia, informal networks of security officials and business elites around the president matter as much as the constitution. In the UK, the prime minister's strongest powers come from conventions and from leading the majority party, not from a written list.