The system of government in modern democratic states can be categorized as presidential, semi-presidential or parliamentary depending on its relationship between the legislative, executive and judicial branches. This relationship is known as the separation of powers and is often regulated by a written constitution. While there are many studies explaining the ideal system, there are few researches made as to whether the states correspond with their theoretical ideals. This study aims at explaining the theories of Giovanni Sartori regarding these three different systems of government and thus creating an ideal for each system. With the help of case studies of three different states representing each system the study analyses as to whether the states of each system correspond with its ideals. The states chosen for this purpose is Australia as a representative of the parlamentaristic state, France as a semi-presidential system and USA which is a presidential system. All three of them are using a bicameral legislature and have a written constitution. The study aims to analyse the systems through a comparative method using a qualitative text analysis of the material used.
The results of this study shows that while the states at large resembles its ideal, there are some deviations. Australia and the United States of America fulfills Sartoris three criterias for their respective system, while France deviates from a majority of its ideal criterias as a hybrid semi-presidential system.