Question

identify two types of systems of government from the following description: columbia is located on the northern tip south america its government is centered in its largest city bogota which has the final say on all laws which are handed down to its thirty-two departments (states) the executive of columbia is chosen by a popular vote once every four years

Answer 1

The Government of Colombia is a republic with separation of powers into executive, judicial and legislative branches. Its legislature has a congress, its judiciary has a supreme court, and its executive branch has a president. The Republic of Colombia is a unitary republic comprising 32 departments, and one capital district. Since Colombia adopts the representative, republican, and democratic form of government, it is governed by representatives of the people, who are elected through direct vote. As a Civil Law country, Colombia’s legal system is mainly based on codes and laws rather than jurisprudence. One of the main characteristics of civil law countries is that their legal system does not recognize the jurisprudence as part of their legal bodies, which means that court’s decisions are only binding for the parties involved rather than for everyone. Judicial decisions are applied case by case and serve as a reference for other judges. However, in Colombia, as well as in some other civil law countries, the high courts’ decisions have gained more power and their scope is not limited as it was previously. In certain occasions, especially in high profile cases where the matters are controversial, a court’s interpretation of the law is just as important as the written law itself. The Colombian National Constitution of 1991 states in Article 1 that “Colombia is a social state of law, organized in the form of a unitary, decentralized republic, with autonomy of its territorial entities, democratic, participatory and pluralist." This means that the central government has the power to make the most important political decisions. Colombia only has a legislative authority, which is responsible for making the laws for the entire territory. The country is divided in territorial entities called departments (equivalent to states in the U.S.) that are separated into districts and local municipalities. These entities do not have legislative or judicial authority. However, as the executive branch of Colombia is administratively decentralized, there are representatives in the departmental, district, and municipal department levels. The representatives in these three levels have certain limited powers that are independent from the central authority.