ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the role and power of the executive branch in governments throughout contemporary Europe. It highlights the main patterns of how executive authority is organized and how it functions in various settings in contemporary Europe. Several European republics have a system of symbolic presidentialism, in which presidents are heads of state and perform functions similar to those of kings and queens in constitutional monarchies. Among European governments, the best example of semi-presidentialism is found in France. France, Austria, and Belgium, among other countries, have a more politicized civil service with a higher turnover of top officials when governments change. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developmen, in 1997 government employment constituted 25 percent of all employment in Finland, 23 percent in Hungary, 21 percent in France, 13 percent in both Great Britain and Germany, and only 7 percent in Greece.