What is an Executive?

Every organisation — a school, a company, a bank, an industrial unit — needs some body of people at the top to take policy decisions and supervise the routine, day-to-day running of the organisation. This activity of deciding and implementing rules is called administration or management, and the body of persons that looks after implementation of rules and regulations in actual practice is called the executive.

In government too, one body may take the big policy decisions while another is responsible for implementing those decisions in practice. The organ of government that primarily looks after implementation and administration is called the executive. Its principal function is the implementation of laws and policies adopted by the legislature, though in practice it is also heavily involved in framing policy. The official designations used for the executive vary across countries — some have presidents, others have chancellors — but the executive branch is not limited to presidents, prime ministers, and ministers; it extends to the entire administrative machinery of civil servants as well. …