Presidential system in Turkey and the USA : A comparative analysis

Throughout history, states have sought the most appropriate form of administration for their own political, social, economic, demographic and cultural characteristics and have applied various models according to their own countries. Today, democratic and modern government systems are mostly defined through how the relationship between the legislative, executive and judicial powers is established. The gathering of executive and legislative powers in one hand is described as the union of forces. As a result of the application of this principle, monarchy, parliamentary government system and dictatorship emerge. If the powers are not shared in one hand, but between separate institutions or individuals, the separation of powers emerges. As a result of the separation of powers principle, parliamentary system, semi-presidential system and presidential system have emerged. The presidential system, which has been on the agenda since the beginning of the 2000s when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power and expressed as the "Turkish Type Presidential Model" over time, gained its constitutional infrastructure as the Presidential Government System with the constitutional amendment referendum dated April 16, 2017. After the system is put into practice, politicians, academics and non-governmental organizations, many different views are expressed and discussed over the effectiveness of the Presidential government system and the compliance of the entire political and administrative structure with the system. The aim of this study is to examine whether although the Turkish type of presidential system emerged by citing the problems in the past management systems, it still has many weak points in terms of its implementation methods or not. For this purpose, first of all, management systems and the presidency were introduced. Then, the US presidential system, which is the exemplary implementer of the presidential system, was explained. Then, the administrative phases of Turkey from past to present were discussed. Finally, the presidential system implemented in Turkey and the US presidential system were compared and some strengths and weaknesses were discussed. Keywords: Presidential system, Turkish-type presidency, Political system, Parliamentarism, Seperation of powers