L8: Executives and Legislatures in Democracies

Question 1

Types of Democratic Regimes

Answer 1

• Parliamentary
• Presidential
• Semi-Presidential

Question 2

Presidential Regimes

5 characteristics

Answer 2

• Voters vote separately for members of legislature and (chief) executive
• Members of cabinet typically must be confirmed by other actors (e.g., Senate in US)
• Except under extraordinary circumstances, executive cannot be removed by legislature
• There is no possibility of legislative dissolution
• In principle, legislatures enact laws and executives implement them: separation of powers

Question 3

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Presidential system

Answer 3

• The problem of dual legitimacy (president and legislature): Who speaks for the people?
• The problem of temporal rigidity: Fixed terms for both the president and legislature, often staggered
• Personalistic appeals by president claiming popular “mandate”
• Post-election reconciliation is hard to achieve
• Partisan figure and head-of-state
• Divided government

Question 4

Parliamentary Regimes

5 characteristics

Answer 4

• Voters (in national-level elections) directly select only members of the legislature, not the executive
• The executive — i.e., the cabinet (gvt) — emerges from the legislature (parliament)
• Once formed, cabinet ministers are responsible for drafting legislative initiatives
• The cabinet is responsible to the legislature
  • Vote of confidence
  • Vote of no-confidence (censure)
  • Constructive vote of no-confidence
• Legislature can typically be dissolved by government

Question 5

Process if Non-Single Party Majority Situation

Answer 5

1. Government resigns (election or replacement)
2. Head of State designates formateur (or informateur in order to find formateur)
3. Formateur seeks out potential coalition partners or legislative support parties
4. Government program (coalition agreement) and portfolio allocation
5. If not successful after multiple attempts, new formateur is selected by HS
6. If successful, new government may or may not require investiture
7. Government stays in office until loses Vote of Confidence or Vote of No Confidence, or “voluntarily” resigns, or CIEP ends

Question 6

Which government forms?

Answer 6

• Office motivations and minimal winning coalitions (Riker 1962)
• Many Minimal Winning Coalitions, so not theoretical prediction not very precise
• Significant anomalies: Minority and surplus majority (oversized) coalitions
• Policy motivations and refinements to MWC predictions: Minimal Connected Winning coalitions (Axelrod; i.e. SPD+CDU) & ideologically-compact MWC (de Swaan)
• Refinements still do not account for non-MWC governments
• Policy motivations and minority governments
  • Polarized opposition (Laver & Schofield 1990)
  • Costs of ruling + opposition influence (Strøm 1990)
• Policy motivations and surplus majority governments
  • Qualified majorities for constitutional amendments
  • Bicameralism and incongruent majorities

Question 7

Advantages and Disadvantages of a Proportional system

Answer 7

• Selection of chief executive and cabinet can take a long time, particularly in PR systems (e.g., 7 months in NL in 2017; 19 months in BE in 2010/11)
• Caretaker governments with no mandate; uncertainty in policy direction
• Coalition politics and gridlock
• Vote of confidence and cabinet instability (Italy!)
• Possibility of frequent elections