`titrebThe Articulation of Powers in Parliamentary Democracies: Fusion and Mitigation`/titrebEven though it remains a celebrated myth today, the separation of powers does not exist as a univocal judicial principle operating in liberal and democratic constitutional systems. On the other hand, contemporary political regimes all rest on the constitutional principle of separate organs and functions, whose articulation in various ways is a key feature of the system. All European parliamentary democracies are based on a broadly similar system of coexistence between two logics : one is the organic and functional fusion of governmental powers (cabinet and parliament), the other is mitigation carried out through “countervailing powers” outside of the cabinet-parliament couple.