State and Forms of Government
Senior 1 · History and Citizenship
State and Forms of Government
Lesson 4 of 5
24 min
In Lesson 3 you met the three organs of any state. Figure 4 shows how Rwanda's Constitution organises them. Read it from the top down: everything flows from the Constitution.
Worked example: following one law through the chart
In 2023 Rwanda amended its Constitution so that the President and the 53 directly elected deputies would be elected on the same day. Follow the change through Figure 4.
What this shows: no single branch could make this change alone. Each step matches a box in Figure 4.
Definition
Bicameral parliament: a legislature with two chambers (houses). Example: Rwanda's Parliament, made up of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
Definition
Head of State: the person who represents the whole state at home and abroad. In Rwanda, the President of the Republic, who is also "the defender of the Constitution and the guarantor of national unity" (Article 98).
Definition
Head of Government: the person who leads the day-to-day work of the government. In Rwanda, the Prime Minister, chosen and appointed by the President (Article 116).
Definition
Cabinet: the body of the Prime Minister, Ministers and State Ministers that decides government policy together (Article 115). Example: the Cabinet meeting that approves a draft law before it goes to Parliament.
Definition
Promulgation: the formal act by which the Head of State signs a law passed by Parliament so that it can take effect; in Rwanda it must happen within 30 days (Article 106).
Important
The Constitution reserves 24 of the 80 seats in the Chamber of Deputies for women, which is 30%. But women also win many of the 53 seats open to all candidates. In 2008 Rwanda became the first country in the world whose elected national parliament had a majority of women. After the 2024 election, women held 63.75% of seats in the Chamber of Deputies, 51 of the 80.
Check the arithmetic: . The reserved seats alone give .
The Chamber of Deputies also reserves seats for young people and for persons with disabilities. Why might a state choose to guarantee seats for particular groups, rather than leave every seat to an open vote? What are the arguments for and against?
Tip
Numbers to learn: "80, 26; 5 and 5". Eighty deputies, twenty-six senators; five-year terms for both, and a five-year presidential term that can be renewed once.
Judiciary of Rwanda (Supreme Court channel): "The Judiciary of Rwanda Video", a two-minute introduction by the courts themselves. Watch for how the Judiciary describes its mission, and compare the courts it shows with the right-hand column of Figure 4.
Practice
Sources and credits
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
