@RusA #9858727 It varies from one country to another. In many countries, the Prime Minister runs the show and the President holds a ceremonial post, and shows up at important state events, but doesn't have any real decision-making power. In countries with a constitutional monarchy, usually the Monarch serves this function, while the Prime Minister runs the country (as in the UK). In some other countries, like France, the President and Prime Minister share decision-making power in various ways.
In Russia, the President runs the country, and the Prime Minister deals with the Duma (Parliament). In that case, the Prime Minister functions much like our U.S. Vice President: he/she presides over the Duma in Russia, or the Senate in the U.S., and is first in the line of succession, should something happen to the President.
Before Russia changed its Constitution, the President could serve two terms, but then had to wait out four years before serving two more terms. (This is different from our system, where one person can serve only two terms and no more.) During those four years, the Prime Minister, Dmitri Medvedev, was elected President and Putin became Prime Minister. Everyone understood that Putin was still in charge, and Medvedev was just a placeholder. Sure enough, in the next election, Putin again became President and Medvedev returned to being Prime Minister. In the meantime, the Duma changed the Constitution so that Putin can be re-elected as President as often as he wants to, so no more of those "Are you President today, Dmitri, or am I?" jokes that were going around in 2008-2012.
The short version is that the way the government is structured varies from country to country, and each one does it a little bit differently. So if you want to know how the government of a given country works, you just have to look it up.
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@RusA #9858727 It varies from one country to another. In many countries, the Prime Minister runs the show and the President holds a ceremonial post, and shows up at important state events, but doesn't have any real decision-making power. In countries with a constitutional monarchy, usually the Monarch serves this function, while the Prime Minister runs the country (as in the UK). In some other countries, like France, the President and Prime Minister share decision-making power in various ways.
In Russia, the President runs the country, and the Prime Minister deals with the Duma (Parliament). In that case, the Prime Minister functions much like our U.S. Vice President: he/she presides over the Duma in Russia, or the Senate in the U.S., and is first in the line of succession, should something happen to the President.
Before Russia changed its Constitution, the President could serve two terms, but then had to wait out four years before serving two more terms. (This is different from our system, where one person can serve only two terms and no more.) During those four years, the Prime Minister, Dmitri Medvedev, was elected President and Putin became Prime Minister. Everyone understood that Putin was still in charge, and Medvedev was just a placeholder. Sure enough, in the next election, Putin again became President and Medvedev returned to being Prime Minister. In the meantime, the Duma changed the Constitution so that Putin can be re-elected as President as often as he wants to, so no more of those "Are you President today, Dmitri, or am I?" jokes that were going around in 2008-2012.
The short version is that the way the government is structured varies from country to country, and each one does it a little bit differently. So if you want to know how the government of a given country works, you just have to look it up.