The presidential system is the dominant form of government in the mainland Americas, with 17 of its 22 sovereign states being presidential republics, the exceptions being Canada, Belize, Peru, Guyana and Suriname. It is also prevalent in Central and southern West Africa and in Central Asia.

The term presidency of the United States of America refers to the chief executive office of the United States. In contrast to many countries with parliamentary forms of government, where the office is mainly ceremonial, in the U.S. the president is vested with great authority and is arguably the most powerful elected official in the world.

In any democracy, third parties or minority parties play important roles. Presidential regimes tend to encourage the formation of a two-party system, resulting in a weaker role for third parties than in most parliamentary regimes that have proportional representation.

Some representative and constitutional democracies have a presidential system of government, which is based on the separation and sharing of powers among three independent and coordinate branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial.

The Presidential Initiative for Democratic Renewal represents a significant, targeted expansion of U.S. Government efforts to defend, sustain, and grow democratic resilience with likeminded...

Explain the key features of a presidential democracy and how they differ from other forms of government. A presidential democracy is characterized by a directly elected president who serves as the head of state and head of government, with significant executive powers.

Democracy is a system of government in which laws, policies, leadership, and major undertakings of a state or other polity are directly or indirectly decided by the “people,” a group historically constituted by only a minority of the population (e.g., all free adult males in ancient Athens or all sufficiently propertied adult males in 19th ...

Within a presidential regime, the president is both head of state and head of government. In a parliamentary regime, however, the roles are separate, with a president (as in Germany or India) or emperor (as in Japan) serving as head of state and the prime minister (or, in Germany, the chancellor) serving as head of government.

The United States is the leading example of the presidential system of constitutional democracy; Britain, although its system is sometimes referred to as a cabinet system in recognition of the role of the cabinet in the government, is the classic example of the parliamentary system.