the three branches of government

the three branches of government

An In-depth Analysis of the Three Branches of Government

1. Introduction to the Concept of Separation of Powers

While the precise origin of the concept of the separation of powers is uncertain, various ancient civilizations exercised the distribution or organization of government powers upon certain officials or units. The Roman Republic’s constitution (509–27 BC) was an example of the delegation of the powers of its Society for the res publica to major magistrates. Whig politicians such as William Blackstone, Montesquieu, and John Locke led to the development and progress of the modern understanding of the separation of powers in the American Revolution because they opposed the British Empire and its control of the colonies. The policy was ultimately intended to prevent the tyranny of a single, unelected person and to protect the fragile freedoms and tasks of the young Americas that they fought so hard to achieve.

The separation of powers describes the way in which the federal government of the United States is divided into three branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. Each branch has its own specific powers and responsibilities and works both independently and together to ensure the republic’s stability and proper functioning. The legislative branch is responsible for creating and making laws, the executive branch is entrusted with ensuring that the laws are carried out, and the judicial branch has the task of enforcing the laws and interpreting them. The idea that a nation’s power should be divided among more than one person or group of people, each responsible for separate areas or functions, is closely associated with this concept of a separation of powers.

2. The Legislative Branch: Role, Structure, and Powers

In this study, we focus on the roles, structures, and powers of the three branches of government. We also explore the relationships and interaction between the branches. While doing so, we present the historical background concerning the foundation of the democratically-regulated U.S. Federal government. In the final part, we extend an evaluation of the potentials of the three branches of government working together against the challenges of the current political environment.

The United States of America operates under the influence of democracy. The powers of the government are regulated and distributed by the Constitution. The government is structured around three branches, which are the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial. The powers of the branches are shared and partially overlapping as required by the system of checks and balances. This system is devised to ensure that no branch has more power than the others. It is enforced by the Constitution and other political custom and compliance.

3. The Executive Branch: Functions, Checks and Balances

The President also has a role in the Executive in other departments. The Executive Office for the President, or EOP, is usually the most important in the White House. The President and the EOP play many roles in the executive branch. Some of the roles include that they are the bureaucracy’s biggest customer. She/He identified and defines the biggest problems and decides how or whether they can be solved. The EOP makes sure that all the other departments do their jobs. The EOP assists the President with the “hundreds of decisions” that he has to make daily. The EOP staff is also his most important representative for help from Congress. Councils, boards, and other organizations help and give the President and his close advisors advice. The President also helps direct and develop a legislative program. All in all, the President and the EOP complete many tasks within the Executive branch, all finalizing at the individual decisions made by the President.

The functions of the Executive are very complex ones, ones that the President has to perform on a daily, if not on an hourly basis. The President’s main function in the Executive is to see that all laws of the United States are carried out by federal agencies. The President is responsible for appointing officials and then taking care that the laws are faithfully executed. These powers of the President, from the Constitution, are the only specifically about the executive power. Other powers are simply stated that the president “shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed” and that the president is the “Chief Executive.” He is in charge of all federal officers and agencies, meaning that he can direct and supervise all of the operations within the federal government. Perhaps, most importantly, the President has the power of appointment, the making of appointments to the various organizations of the government.

4. The Judicial Branch: Independence, Jurisdiction, and Judicial Review

The judicial branch is largely given the duty to sort through subsequent Constitution references for specific authority and limitations. It is left unaided to establish the principles of thought and action based on the constitutional divisions of responsibilities outlined in the drawings and stolen memorabilia of its co-creators. For over 200 years, the combination has served well. It remains to be studied how the future may judge this experiment with a representative republic, based on the American experience.

The American republic has an array of institutions that have both general and specific duties, which are further specified by the authority provided in the Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court can review the actions of the others and deliver – or interpret – the Constitution where there is a constitutional duty or prohibition. It can also interpret its authority of jurisdictional responsibility over cases arising under the Constitution, other powers and duties of the other branches, and relations between states and among states. The authority greatly strengthens the judicial branch, its power to judge the constitutionality of actions, and its independence to maintain – or even expand – its authority. The Court has taken the spirit as well as the letter of the Constitution’s limited guidance.

5. Interactions and Dynamics Among the Three Branches

In this chapter, we have isolated and applauded the separated functions of the three branches of government. Our Constitution, however, provides for a system of shared powers known as checks and balances. One of the ways that the framers of our Constitution attempted to ensure that the powers of a newly created federal government could be effectively used to solve these fundamental problems was to create an absence of governmental powers. When one branch of government uses the powers given to it by the Constitution to challenge another branch, separation of powers becomes “checks and balances.” The concept of checks and balances means that powers are not only separated, but are shared by the various institutions.

This chapter has shown how each of the three branches attempts to meet its obligations to serve the public good. The executive secures the nation, recommends and executes pieces of legislation, and delivers promised goods and services to the people. The legislature crafts public policy, which reflects the public’s will and advances the interests of the collective. The judiciary tries to resolve individual and public disputes, but also guards the written Constitution against abuse and defines the scope of public policy. Even though the work of each branch is constitutional, each is also philosophical and practical.