Argentina is a federation of 23 provinces, plus the Federal Capital District (Buenos Aires City). In the years since 1983, the country's democratic institutions have achieved unprecedented stability, and military intervention no longer appears even a remote prospect. The system of government (at both the federal and provincial levels) is based on the "separation of powers" into 3 distinct branches: the Executive branch, the Legislative branch and the Judiciary. No member of one branch of government can simultaneously perform official duties in another.

At the Federal level, the Executive branch comprises a President, a Vice-President and a Cabinet of Ministers. The President and Vice-President ...

The constitution vests in the Governor-General, representing the Head of State exercised by tradition on behalf of the elected government. The Government is based on a bicameral Federal Parliament headed by an elected Prime Minister consisting of a Senate which has proportional representation among the States. The Federal Government has powers over defence, foreign affairs, trade and commerce, taxation, customs and excise duties, pensions, immigration and postal services. Other powers are left with the States, such as health, education, state transport networks, town and rural planning and land administration (cadastral system, land registration).

The Austrian constitution is based on the Federal Constitution Act of 1920 as amended in 1929. The Austrian constitution is based on the undisputed principles of democracy, the republic state form, federalism and the rule of law. The constitution also includes a number of instruments of direct democracy, such as popular initiatives, plebiscites and referenda. Fundamental rights and freedoms have always been of the utmost importance and continue to be accorded height priority in the Austrian constitution.

Belgium is a constitutional monarchy to representative system. The fundamental rules concerning the rights and the liberties, the organization of the State and the functioning of institutions, mainly the legislative, executive and judicial powers find their source in the Constitution adopted on February 7th, 1831.

The procedure of modification of the Constitution is complex. During the first 150 years following the adoption of the Constitution, there were only three revisions (on 1892-1893, 1919-1921 and 1965-1968). On the other hand, since 1970, the demand of autonomy of two main cultural and linguistic constituents of Belgium, Flemish and the French speakers, gave ...

Brunei is an independent sovereign Sultanate which is governed on the basis of a written Constitution.

His Majesty The Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan is the supreme executive authority in Brunei Darussalam. His Majesty has occupied the position of Prime Minister since resumption of independence in 1984.

Brunei's administrative system is centred on the Prime Minister's Office which has provided the thrust behind His Majesty's aim to introduce greater efficiency in the Government. In his National Day speech in 1987, His Majesty pointed out that it was essential to keep the country's administrative machinery up-to-date in line with the development of Brunei as an independent nation. His Majesty has followed a combination of traditional and reforming policies, moving away from a structure of a Chief Minister and State Secretary to a full ministerial system with specified portfolios.

The Kingdom of Cambodia there is three independent powers. The legislative power is Parliament, the executive power is the Royal Government and the Jurisdiction power is the Court. The National Assembly is established every 5 years through national election. The parliament creates the Royal Government of Cambodia, which is headed by the Prime Minister. First commune election for commune councils had been done in February 2002.

The whole territory of Cambodia, there are 24 provinces/municipalities with the total of 185 districts, 1621 communes and 13,694 villages.

China's administrative units are currently based on a three-level system dividing the nation into provinces, counties, and townships. The country is divided into provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government. A province or an autonomous region is subdivided into autonomous prefectures, counties, autonomous counties, and/or cities. A county or an autonomous county is subdivided into townships, national minority townships, and/or towns.

Municipalities directly under the Central Government and large cities are subdivided into districts and counties. The Constitution specifically empowers the state to establish special administrative regions (SAR) when necessary. A special administrative region is a local administrative area directly under the Central Government. At present, China was divided into 23 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government, and 2 SARs, Hong Kong and Macao.

Cyprus is an independent, sovereign Republic with a presidential system of government. Under the 1960 Constitution, executive power is vested in the President of the Republic, elected by universal suffrage to a five-year term of office. As of 1 May 2004, Cyprus is a full member state of the European Union.

The executive power is exercised by the President of the Republic. The President exercises executive power through a Council of Ministers appointed by him. Legislative power in the Republic of Cyprus is exercised by the House of Representatives.

On 20 July 1974 Turkey invaded Cyprus. In a two-phase invasion and despite calls by the UN Security Council, Turkey occupied 36.2% of the sovereign territory of the Republic.

Political system in the Czech Republic is a parliamentary democracy based on a free competition of political parties. According to the Constitution legislative power, executive power and justice are separated. The legislative power is carried out by elected Parliament (two chambers). The central government consists of several ministries and other central administration bodies with competencies and responsibilities defined by law. On lower levels of administration there are regional and municipal self-governments. The justice consists of a system of independent courts.

The Czech Republic is administratively divided into 14 regions, each region consisting of several districts (totally 77 districts).

The Constitution is the supreme law of Fiji. The Constitution Amendment Act 1997, to amend the 1990 Constitution came into operation on July 25, 1998. In principle, the new Constitution gave regard to recognizing, respecting and upholding the rights and interests of all ethnic groups in the country. The passing of the new Constitution led to Fiji's re-admission to the Commonwealth in October 1997, restoring some of the links with the Crown.

Authority is vested in the President who is appointed by the Bose Levu Vakaturaga or Great Council of Chiefs. The President serves for a five year term. One of the President's responsibilities is to appoint the 32 ...

Finland is one State with a central government and parliament (elected every 4 years). Finland is a republic and the president is elected every 6 years. The prime minister and the government have the actual political power. For administrative purposes, the country is divided into 6 provinces and 348 municipalities. Municipalities are in charge of local governing and they have directly elected municipal councils and a right to levy taxes. They form inter-municipal associations for health care etc.

The ministries in the central government are small organizations, mainly dealing with policy issues and preparation of proposals to the parliament. The central administration is carried out by national authorities and agencies, which, within the framework of the legislation and budget frames, have to carry out the implementation of the policy.

The political and administrative principles in the Federal Republic of Germany are fixed in the constitution, the Basic Law since 1949. Germany is a republic and a democracy. The head of state is the Federal President, elected for a period of five years by the Federal Convention, which convenes only for this purpose. His tasks are mainly of a representational nature. The Bundestag is the parliament of the Federal Republic elected by the people every four years. The Federal Government consists of the Federal Chancellor, who chairs the Cabinet and is head of government. The Chancellor alone chooses the ministers and determines their number and their responsibilities.

The Federal Republic consists of 16 Länder (states). These states ...

Basic Law approved in March 1990 by China's National People's Congress is Hong Kong's "mini-constitution". After the repatriation in July 1997, Hong Kong will remain 50 years of no change to the previous common law legal system. Hong Kong is now a Special Administrative Region of China.

Hungary is a democratic republic. The government lead by the Prime Minister has the real political power, the President has limited political power, but representing the country. The parliament has the legislative power, the government is the executive power.

Administratively Hungary is divided into 19 counties + Budapest Capital. There are 3154 settlements (towns, villages, etc) in the country, 19 districts in Budapest with local governments. There are two levels of local administration. 20 county local governments responsible for regional matters such major roads, regional spatial planning, secondary schools, hospitals, etc. Local government of settlements and Budapest districts responsible for local matters like primary education, certain taxation, local roads, town planning, social issues and others.

India has a parliaments form of government based on universal adult franchise. The executive authority is responsible to the elected representatives of the people in parliament for all its decision and actions. India is a union of twenty-eight states and seven centrally administered union territories.

The president is both the chief of state and head of government (cabinet appointed by the president). Formerly, president and vice president elected separately by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) for five-year terms, but in the next 2004 national election (in accordance with UUD 1945 constitutional changes), the election of the president and vice president will be direct vote of the citizenry. The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) includes the House of Representative (DPR) plus indirectly selected members meets every five year to (formerly) elect the president and vice president, to approve broad outlines of national policy (GBHN), and also has yearly meetings to consider constitutional and legislative changes.

Indonesia has 27 provinces, 2 special regions (Yogyakarta and Aceh), and 1 special capital city district (Jakarta) with 370 regencies and municipalities.

Israel is a democracy with a central government and parliament ("Knesset", 120 seats) elected by the people (suffrage: 18 years) every four years. The government led by the Prime Minister has the real political power while the President has limited political power. The president is elected by the Knesset for a five-year term and representing the country and serves as the symbol of the state. The Cabinet (about 8-18) is selected by Prime Minister and approved by the Knesset.

The government is divided into three independent bodies namely: Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Each body is responsible for a different function of the government. Legislature is responsible for making laws that are implemented by the executive and interpreted by the judiciary branch. There are three levels of court namely Supreme Court, District Court and Municipal Court. No formal constitution; some of the functions of a constitution are filled by the Declaration of Establishment (1948), the Basic Laws of the parliament (Knesset), and the Israeli citizenship law.

The Imperial structure has continued since the Japanese nation was founded. Under the present Constitution of Japan, the Emperor serves as the symbol of the state while the Cabinet has power over all aspects of the nation. The Diet consisting of the House of Representatives and House of Councilors elected by direct vote of the people designates the Prime Minister from among its members. Then the Prime Minister appoints the other Ministers and organizes the Cabinet. The government bureaucracy was reorganized in 2001 into 10 ministries, 2 agencies and Cabinet Office. Newly-formed Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport is responsible for cadastral systems.

Government:
Type: Constitutional monarchy.
Branches: Executive - king (chief of state), prime minister (head of government), council of ministers (cabinet). Legislative - bicameral National Assembly (appointed Senate, elected Chamber of Deputies). Judicial - civil, religious, special courts.
Political parties: Wide spectrum of parties legalized in 1992.
Administrative subdivisions: 12 Governorates.

Economy:
GDP (2001 est.): $7.5 billion.
Annual growth rate (2001 est.): 4.1%.
Per capita GDP (2001 est.): $1,500.

Following the British rule, the Gilbert Islands became a sovereign Republic of Kiribati when it gained its full political independence in July 1979.

The Head of State became an elected President by the people. The House of Parliament that amended and passed laws consists of every elected MP Representative from all the 20 inhabited islands. A total of 43 seats are available in Parliament. There are usually only 2 political parties in Parliament, one being the ruling Government party at the time and the Opposition party.

Adopted from the British administration certain powers of the central Government were delegated to the Island Councils established on every island. The council is made up of councilors elected by residents of the island. Respective island councils has powers over village planning, regulate inshore fishing, taxes and initiate island development projects beneficial to the island that were usually passed to central Government for approval and funding. On the other hand Government has powers over education, health, public utilities, commerce, natural resource development, customs and immigration, environment conservations and planning and land administration.

The Republic of Korea exercises a democratic form of government based on a system of checks and balances. The Constitution was first adopted in 1948, when the Republic was established, and has since been revised nine times as the country has struggled to refine and strengthen its democracy.

The most recent revision of the Constitution provided, among other things, for the direct election of the President for a single five-year term and for the institution of a system of local autonomy, which had been absent for 30 years. These two provisions are vital to the strengthening of democratic institutions in the Republic. The revision also reinstated the right of the National Assembly to conduct regular inspections of all state affairs, as a legislative check ...

Latvia is democratic, parliamentary republic with unitary structure of state. The country's head of state is the President, who is elected by the parliament for a period of 4 years. The President performs mainly representative functions. Legislative power is in the hands of a single chamber parliament - the Saeima that is elected in general, equal, direct, secret and proportional elections for a period of 4 years. Executive power is performed by Cabinet of Ministers consisting of ministries and headed by Prime Minister.

There are municipalities of two types in Latvia - 530 local municipalities (cities, counties and civil parishes), and 26 district municipalities. The local municipalities are elected by residents in direct elections, council of district is made by chairmen of councils of municipalities of the corresponding district. At present, reform of municipalities is in process with aim to reduce the number of local municipalities up to 167 in order to optimize their operation.

Lithuania is a parliamentary democracy based on a free competition of political parties. The country is headed by the President elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The legislative branch is represented by the Parliament or Seimas composed of 141 members of Parliament serving for the period of four-years. The Central Government consists of 13 ministries, each responsible for its own specific area.

Administratively Lithuania is divided into 10 counties and 60 municipalities, which have relatively broad powers of self-governance.

The Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China is headed by the Chief Executive. The Administration, the executive arm of the Government, is organised into the Government Secretariat and departments. Departments implement laws and policies and provide direct services to the community.

The MSAR has an independent Judiciary. It is responsible for the administration of justice and interprets the laws enacted by the legislature.

The systems practiced in Macao are prescribed by the Basic Law, the constitutional document of the MSAR which came into effect upon its establishment on December 20, 1999.

Malaysia's government is modelled after the British system, somewhat modified because Malaysia's federal structure incorporates 13 states and 3 federal territories. Nine of those states have rulers or sultans and they elect a monarch, the supreme ruler, every five years. The government is based on a parliamentary system, headed by an elected Prime Minister. The Parliament consists of a partially appointed senate and a house of representatives whose members are elected by universal adult suffrage.

The Federal Government has powers such as over external affairs, defence, internal security, civil and criminal law, federal citizenship and naturalization, finance, trade, commerce and industry, taxation, customs and excise duties, shipping, navigation and fisheries, communications and transport, federal works and power, education, medicine and health, social security and tourism. The States' powers include over land and its administration, Islamic law, Malay customs, permits and licenses for mines prospecting, agriculture, forests, local government, states works and water, and riverine fishing.

The State is constituted by a representative, democratic, federal republic formed by 32 free and sovereign states in reference with their inner regime, and joint together in a federation established according to the principles of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States.

The States will adopt, for their inner regime, the form of a republican, representative, popular government, having the free municipality as their basic territorial division and their administrative and political organization.

The Republic of Namibia was established as a sovereign, secular, democratic and unitary State. In accordance with the doctrine of separation of powers, the government is divided into three organs:

• The Executive
• The Legislative
• The Judiciary

Each organ is responsible for a different function of the government. The legislative branch is responsible for making laws that are implemented by the executive and interpreted by the judiciary branch.

As per the constitution of Nepal 1991, it has three independent bodies namely: Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. Legislature looks after the job of actually governing the country, making laws and Bills and overseeing the finances of the country. This is done by Parliament, which consists of His Majesty and Upper and Lower House. The Executive's job is to actually carry out the government of the country as decided by the Parliament. His Majesty and the Council of Ministers, which is also called the Cabinet, exercise the power of this function. The function of the Judiciary is to ensure justice, according to the law and there are three levels of court namely Supreme Court, Appellate Court and District Court.

Kathmandu is the capital of Nepal. Administratively, Nepal is divided into 5 Development Regions, 14 Zones, 75 Districts and 3396 Village Development Committees and 58 Municipalities.

The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy with free elections every 4 years. The Government is formed by the Queen and Council of Ministers. The Queen is privileged (can do 'no wrong'), the ministers are responsible. The Queen is head of State (Kingdom of the Netherlands, including overseas territories). Overseas territories have a kind of separate status with a governor and local parliament and reporting to the 'minister of home and overseas affairs'; as such the Kingdom occurs to be a kind of federation. The Prime Minister is chair of the cabinet and has a primus inter pares status. The Government is verifiable by the Parliament at any time and at any matter. The Parliament consists of a Second (Lower) Chamber and ...

New Zealand is a Westminster style parliamentary democracy, with the Queen of England as the Head of State, represented by a Governor General, acting on the advice of the Government. The Government is an unicameral system, comprising 120 elected representatives who serve a 3 year term. There are 69 electorates, including 7 for Maori, the remaining 51 representatives are elected at large from the various political parties based on their percentage of the total vote.

New Zealand has no formal, written constitution, but consists of various documents, including certain acts of the UK and New Zealand Parliaments. The Constitution Act 1986 was to have come into force 1 January 1987, but has not been enacted. The legal system is based on English law, with special land legislation and land courts for Maoris.

Local Government consists of 83 Regions, Municipalities and Districts.

Norway is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democratic system of governance. State power is formally distributed between the Storting, the Government and the courts. There is also a geographically distribution of political power into state, county and municipal levels. The public administration, which was designed to serve the needs of the political bodies, is sometimes viewed as a fourth state power, as it now takes independent action and exert influence on the shaping of policies. Norway is divided into 19 counties and 431 municipalities (2007).

There are three (3) major branches of the government namely, the Executive headed by the President, the Judiciary - the Supreme Court headed by the Chief Justice and the Legislative - the Congress composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The President is elected by popular vote. Senators, like the President seeks mandate from the majority of voting population in the entire country every six (6) years while the members of the House of Representatives are elected by Districts every three (3) years.

There are seventeen (17) Regions of which one is autonomous, seventy nine (79) provinces, one thousand four hundred ninety six (1,496) municipalities one hundred fourteen (114) cities and forty one thousand nine hundred fourty five (41,945) barangays. The provinces are headed by governors, the municipalities and cities by mayors, all are elected by popular votes.

The Republic of South Africa comprises 9 Provinces, namely Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, Kwa-Zulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North-West, Northern Cape and Western Cape. The Capital is Pretoria with Cape Town as the legislative center and Bloemfontein the judicial center. The new Constitution which was certified by the Constitutional Court on 4th December 1996 was signed by President Mandela on 10th December 1996. Parliament, the legislative authority of South Africa has the power to make laws for the country in accordance with the Constitution. It consists of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). The National Assembly consists of 350-400 elected members for a period of 5 years. It is presided over by a ...

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a unitary state whose legal and administrative structure is based on its republican constitution. The National Constitution (1978) forms the supreme law under an Executive Presidency and a single house of Parliament. Sri Lanka consists of 25 administrative districts and nine provinces. The hierarchy of regional administrative divisions that supports the central government now consists of Provinces, Districts, divisions and Grama Niladhari units, in descending administrative order and area. The Thirteenth amendment to the Constitution in 1987 provide for devolution of power to the provinces.

Sweden is one State with one central government and parliament. The king has no political power. For administrative purposes, the country is dived into 21 counties and 280 municipalities. At county level, the State has a regional administration through the county administrative board. There is also a direct elected council with own right to levy taxes and responsible mainly for health care at county level. Most social welfare issues as well as land use planning are the responsibility of the municipalities, who also have direct elected parliament and own right to levy taxes.

The ministries in the central government are small organisations, mainly dealing with policy formulation and preparation of proposals to the parliament. The central administration is carried out by national authorities and agencies, which, within the framework of the legislation and budget frames, have to carry out the implementation of the policy, independently. All governmental decisions have to be taken by the collectively within the government. The government cannot interfere in the decision-making in a national agency.

The Federal Constitution defines Switzerland as a "league of the peoples of 23 sovereign Cantons" (three Cantons are subdivided into half-cantons) making it a federative, democratic and constitutional nation. The Constitution also defines the separation of the three powers - legislative, executive, and judiciary.

The Federal Parliament is the legislative body consisting of two chambers that have equal rights: the National Council (Nationalrat) with 200 representatives and the Council of States (Ständerat) with 46 representatives, 2 from each of the Cantons. The Federal Council (Bundesrat) is the Swiss Government and the supreme executive body. Each year, the Federal Parliament elects 1 of the 7 Federal Councilors to be the President of the Confederation. The Federal ...

Tanzania consists of two parts: namely, the isles (Zanzibar) and the Mainland. There are 21 administrative Regions on the mainland and 5 Regions on the Isles. Each Region is further subdivided into Districts and each District is in turn divided into Wards.

The Central Government administration is composed of three organs, namely: the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. In addition to this structure, there are Local Government Authorities at various levels to assist the Central Government organs.

The Executive is composed of an executive President who is directly assisted by a Vice President, President of Zanzibar, Prime Minister and the Cabinet. In addition, there are 26 regions led by Regional Commissioners and 130 districts led by District Commissioners. ...

Turkey is a republic established in 1923, and consists of 7 geographical Regions and 81 provinces. The Republic of Turkey is a democratic, secular and social State governed by the rule of law. The Turkish State, with its territory and nation, is an indivisible entity. The official language of the Turkish State is Turkish and its capital is Ankara. Sovereignty is vested in the nation without reservation or condition and the nation exercises its sovereignty through the authorized organs as prescribed by the principles laid down in the Constitution.

Local administration is the system of administration established to meet the common needs of the people living in a specific region and managed by bodies elected by these people. Local administrative agencies are authorized ...