Separation of Powers

On Monday we'll be discussing the second overarching structural feature of the American political system: the separation of powers within the national level of government across three largely independent branches. As Smith points out in The American Anomaly, this is even more unique to the United States than federalism, since most democratic countries -- whether they're unitary states or highly federalized -- have a parliamentary system with legislative and executive (and sometimes also judicial) branches that are inextricably intertwined.

Here, for example, is an official description of the Canadian parliamentary system. Like the United States, Canada has a decidedly federal structure. However, Canada's chief executive is not independent from the legislature the way the American president is. In this way, its government is more like that of Britain, a unitary state that keeps its governmental powers very much unseparated.