Importance of the Division of Powers

The division of powers: a novel phenomenon in the historypolicy of the world.- To define the concept of division of powers we have to be very clear that it is very new if we compare it with world political history.

Although it has been in existence for more than two hundred years, the division of powers turns out to be the tip of a long world history of monarchies and absolute powers. Therein lies its importance, since it entails a new way of understanding politics and the government in which power is no longer fully concentrated in one person, but various institutions are born that will share it out and must exercise it with the same responsibilities.

Understanding the concept of division of powers: an abstraction applied to reality

When we are faced with the task of defining the idea of ​​division of powers, we observe that the task becomes difficult because the concept is, like all those related to politics, very abstract and perhaps far from the actual practice. However, it is possible to frame it within certain institutional practices to better understand it.

The division of powers is the concept that emerged in the mid-18th century when Western philosophers began to claim the reigning monarchies for the abuses of power committed. This is how the idea began to emerge that power, until then held by a single person, should be represented by several people or institutions that control each other and prevent a ruler from concentrating all the functions and prerogatives of power.

The division of powers establishes in the era in which we live that there are three powers in a democratic government with equal capacities to perform their functions: the Executive Power, the Power of attorney and the Legislative Power. This is so because each of them must fulfill different tasks and has various responsibilities that the other powers do not have. At the same time, the notion arises that each of the powers must be regulated but must also be controlled by the others to avoid abuse.

The different conceptions of the division of powers in the countries of the world

Although the theory on the division of powers is very clear about the functions and prerogatives of each power, reality shows that in different countries of the world it can be applied more or less mode. This gives, for example, in many countries with a tendency to personalism that powers such as the Executive have a tendency to exercise more authority than in others where the Legislature controls with greater power the designs or decisions of others two. This proves that political theory is not always easy to apply and that, like everything related to humanity, it is a highly subjective phenomenon.

Images: iStock. Leonardo Patrizi / jdwfoto