Separation of powers in government structure and function

Separation of Powers

It is well-known fact that political power is a very dynamic sphere of human relations and there is no doubt that democratic system is the most progressive result of complicated process of society development. Every citizen of any real democratic society knows that government is called to protect his individual rights and interests but at the same time it is clear from the pages of history that state machine was the main violator of citizens' rights.

It had been proved by thousand years of our history that state organs were not able to secure order and peace in the country, guarantee civil rights and provide effective domestic or foreign policy if political power were usurped by one person or group of them. Moreover, these people become dangerous to usual citizens and the main aim is to remove the amount of power they have to make it difficult to abuse.

That is why many philosophers and politicians looked for an alternative state system which would control all spheres of governing and would separate political power into several branches which had to be independent from each other but at the same time cooperate to gain common aim -- prosperity of own state and citizens. So separation of powers prevents concentration of power and endows each branch equal rights to resist interference of other branches. As J. Madison said: "Ambition must be made to counteract ambition" (Federalist Papers No. 51).

It is important to note that American democratic system and its authors used ideas of major European philosophers of Enlightenment epoch and first of all ideas of Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu whose names are usually associated with separation of powers doctrine. Their theories have too many different interpretations but the main one -- about separation of powers is connected with understanding of the political liberty. According to Montesquieu political liberty was "a tranquility of mind arising from the opinion each person has of his safety"(The Spirit of Laws Chapter 7, no. 9). Montesquieu separated governmental power according to its functions (legislative, executive and judicial). In other words he explained necessity of separation of powers by the fact that it was the only real condition of political liberty in the state. The main goal of separation according to Montesquieu was avoiding abusing power. Separated branches of power had to cooperate effectively and legislative one was the most important as it promulgated laws. In case of unification of legislative and executive functions in hands of one person or group political, liberty would be not observed as laws and power of governing would serve only to interests of a definite social group. Moreover, if judicial system were combined with legislative one, judge would become a legislator and citizens would suffer law outrage. The same situation would take place in case of combining judicial and executive branches of power because a judge would become an oppressor. Montesquieu marks in conclusion of The Spirit of Laws that "everything would die" if one person or institution would have competence of legislative, executive and judicial power. "Although Montesquieu separated governmental functions and separated governmental powers, there is no clear one-to-one correspondence between the two because he did not insist on an absolute separation." (The Founders' Constitution

Volume 1, Chapter 10, Introduction. available at http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch10I.html)

Montesquieu was a very progressive philosopher whose ideas are remembered today and many of his theories contributed to the fundamentals of modern principles of American democracy and principles of political democratism worldwide. While theoretical researches had European origins, the United States became the first state where Doctrine of Separation of Powers was used as one of the most important principles of governing.

The First Article of the United States Constitution says: "All legislative powers ... shall be vested in a Congress." The Second Article says: "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." And at least the Third Article of the U.S. Constitution places "the judicial Power of the United States ... In one Supreme Court." So, as we can see the U.S. Constitution established separation of powers in the United States as a structure of the state mechanism and it is worth mentioning that all other democratic countries used this principle in their constitutions, created after the U.S. one, because American experience proved that separation of powers was an civil innovation in creating modern and extremely effective state machine.

The United States have a partial separation of powers. Power consists of three branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The competence of Legislative power is to enact laws; Executive one sees those laws enforced and Judicial power protects state and citizens from some actions which are considered to be crimes. No branch of power can have more than one competence. Moreover, the Legislative power is divided in two: Congress and Senate of the United States. Here is the structure of the U.S. separation of powers: