Political system of the 5th French Republic and the Russian Federation regime

Abstract

The study presents the issues of a semi-presidential political system which can be distinguished in a few European countries. First, the autor presents the 5th Republic in France which is undoubtedly a model of his political system. There is the description of the structure of the main state authorities and the relations between them. The autor indicates the constitutional status and the decisive role of the president of the republic as the most important feature of the French semi-presidential political system. The attention is also paid to the parliament with the emphasis on these legal and political solutions which lead to the restriction of the legislative status. The paper also includes the issues concerning political position and importance of the government as well as the scope of its responsibility before the parliament and before the president of the republic. After the presentation of the political system of the 5th Republic, the autor attempts to show if and to what extent the present French political institutions are reflected in the political system of the Russian Federation. Therefore, he presents the regulations in the legally binding Russian constitution of 1993 and characterises the political status of the highest state authorities in the Russian Federation: the president, the government and the parliament. The author mainly emphasises these legal regulations which are similar to the political solutions used in the semi-presidential political system of the 5th Republic.