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Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and the rule of law.
The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state power (usually law-making, adjudication, and execution) and requires these operations of government to be conceptually and institutionally distinguishable and articulated, thereby maintaining the integrity of each. [1]
According to this doctrine, the power of the state is limited in order to protect citizens from the arbitrary exercise of authority. The Rechtsstaat is a concept in continental European legal thinking, originally borrowed from German jurisprudence, which can be translated as "the legal state" or "state of rights".
An arbitrary legal judgment is a decision made at the discretion of the judge, not one that is fixed by law. [7] [1] In some countries, a prohibition of arbitrariness is enshrined into the constitution. Article 9 of the Swiss Federal Constitution theoretically overrides even democratic decisions in prohibiting arbitrary government action. [8]
The 1793 French Constitution, on the other hand, cherished legislative supremacy and was based on the idea influenced by Rousseau – that limited government was best achieved through a "rational democratic self-government seeking to give expression to the general will ... as the optimal antidote to the arbitrary rule of absolute monarchy." [2]
Definition National government: The government of a nation-state and is a characteristic of a unitary state. This is the same thing as a federal government which may have distinct powers at various levels authorized or delegated to it by its member states, though the adjective 'central' is sometimes used to describe it. The structure of central ...
Judicial review as a contribution to political theory is sometimes said to be a "distinctively American contribution," [9]: 1020 argued to have been established in the US Supreme Court's decision in Marbury v. Madison (1803). However, "the American version of judicial review was the logical result of centuries of European thought and colonial ...
In American law, the unitary executive theory is a Constitutional law theory according to which the President of the United States has sole authority over the executive branch. [1] It is "an expansive interpretation of presidential power that aims to centralize greater control over the government in the White House". [2]