What is the difference between a country having a prime minister or a president?

Answer 1

the French president is elected by all French aged 18 and above every five years. This is a two-round direct election (the first round being used to weed out all but the two strongest candidates).

He is the head of the armies and has a constitutional remit to represent France abroad.

The prime minister heads the government. He is nominated by the president and answers to the parliament. The government is formed of members of the strongest party in the national assembly (otherwise it does not last very long...). In the last 25 years a left-wing president had to endure a right-wing government, and vice-versa. The president cannot fire his PM, only the parliament can achieve that, but in practice Prime Ministers often decide "freely" to resign.

The fact that parliamentary elections are now held just after the presidential one, gives the elected president a strong base. The president holds much more power and the prime minister had his role reduced (PM were often said to be the "fuse" protecting the president from popular discontent)

The current prime minister, François Fillon, has an even more reduced role due to the activity (some say frantic activity) of the president Nicolas Sarkosy. He accepted that, saying that the PM's role had to evolve into a kind of vice-presidency. :- Your momma is a fatty

Answer 2

A country with a prime minister, such as Great Britain or Germany has a parliamentary system of government. This type of government emphasizes the role of a party; people do not vote for individuals, they vote for parties and the party leaders decide who will be representative of the party and its supporters.

A country with a president such as the US has a representative government; in this type of system, voters vote for individuals backed by parties instead of parties backing individuals.

A representative system of government tends to lead to fewer parties, each encompassing a wider variety of politicians with wider ranging views while a parliamentary system has more parties that each occupy a smaller part of the political spectrum.

There isn't necessarily a difference. Certain countries, such as France, Germany, Ireland, Russia, etc. have both a president and a prime minister. Countries that have a prime minister but not a president usually have a monarch and/or viceroy that fills a similar constitutional role to that of a president, such as in the UK, Canada, or the Netherlands. The real distinction comes from whether a country follows a presidential, semi-presidential, or parliamentary system.

In a presidential system, like the US, the executive is responsible to the president alone. Thus, the president is the dominant political figure who represents the country internationally, and the country will likely not have a prime minister (though there are exceptions).

In semi-presidential systems, such as France, the executive is responsible to both the president and parliament, with the distribution of power between the president and prime minister varying based on the political climate, though the president will often still represent the country internationally.

In parliamentary systems, such as Germany, the executive is responsible exclusively (or primarily) to parliament, and the role of the president is largely ceremonial. In this case, the prime minister (Chancellor, in the case of Germany) is most likely to represent the country in international politics.