Sources of Power in the Six Course Countries

Every regime has a formal structure on paper and a real structure where decisions actually get made. In the United Kingdom, power sits with the prime minister and cabinet, who command a majority in Parliament, while the monarch keeps a grand title but no governing power. In Russia, the presidency under Vladimir Putin concentrates power through control of security services, courts, and a dominant party, United Russia, far beyond what the constitution alone describes. In Mexico, power has shifted historically between a dominant party, the PRI, and now a more competitive multiparty presidency, but the executive still commands enormous authority. In Iran, real power sits with the Supreme Leader and unelected bodies like the Guardian Council, which can override the elected president and parliament. In Nigeria, a presidential system distributes power among the president, a federal legislature, and state governors, with the military remaining a historical check in the background.

China shows the pattern most starkly. The General Secretary of the Communist Party outranks the state president in practice, even when one person holds both titles, because the party controls appointments, propaganda, and the courts. The People's Liberation Army swears loyalty to the party, not the state or constitution, and senior military posts go to trusted party figures rather than independent career officers. That arrangement closes off the one path, a military coup or a rival power base, that has toppled other authoritarian governments.

This topic connects directly to legitimacy and regime stability. When a government's main claim to rule, whether elections, religious authority, or economic performance, gets seriously challenged, the institutions that actually hold power are what determine whether the regime bends or breaks.