Presidentialism 1

Question 1

Who noted that presidential democracies more likely to emerge out of military dictatorships?

Answer 1

Przewoski

They are also more likely to die for this reason

Question 2

What phrase is used to describe the traditional need for a majority to exist in Parliamentarism?

Answer 2

A “MAJORITARIAN IMPERATIVE”

• outside occasional minority government, most govts enjoy the support of a majority
• Presidential regimes lack the majority imperative
• Challenged by CHEIBUB

Question 3

Who demonstrated that parliamentary systems will not always produce majority governments?

Answer 3

STROM

Question 4

How often have parliamentary systems had minority governments between 1946 and 1999?
Who demonstrated this

Answer 4

22% of the time

CHEIBUB et al

Question 5

What does STROM think will influence the benifit that political parties see in being in office in a minority government?

Answer 5

How much policy influence the parties can exert out of office

Question 6

What affects the amount of policy influence a party can hold out of government office?

Answer 6

Organisation of Parliament:

• Existence of standing committees
• allocation rules for committees

Question 7

How often do Presidential systems have minority goverments?

Answer 7

40% of the time

Question 8

What impact did Cheibub find minority government had on regime survival in presidential systems?

Answer 8

No impact

Question 9

What does Cheibub say about deadlock?

Answer 9

• It does not haunt presidentialism
• Not associated with regime breakdown
• Deadlock will only occur when the prefernces of a majority cannot prevail

Question 10

What legislative features can be used to overcome deadlock?

Answer 10

A presidntial veto

Legislative overide of the presidential veto

Question 11

How many presidential democracies die due to deadlock and how many without?

Answer 11

1 in 26 die with deadlock
1 in 31 die when no deadlock
∴ Very little diff and challenges suggestion that this is a major feature of failure

Question 12

Can deadlock occur in Parliamentary systems

Answer 12

Not in the sense that it can in Pres systems. If sufficient opposition formed a new majority will occur.
However can occur where there is no stable majority to take over from a failed government

Question 13

What does Tsebelis say about policy change in democratic systems?

Answer 13

Policy change is associated with the number of actors who can veto a proposal

Question 14

What evidence is there that politicians only care about being in office as a traditional argument is wrong?

Answer 14

The time it takes coalitions to form. This would be quick if the priority for politicians was only being in office

Question 15

How many prime minister change in industrialised democracies without elections

Answer 15

56% change without elections

Question 16

Does the argument that in presidential systems voters use their two votes independently (one on a local level, one on a national one) hold true?

Answer 16

No

• Evidence shows that voters do tend to associate their vote in presidential elections and legislative elections
• Would appear to mirror the use of local council elections in the UK where voting is based on national policy

Question 17

What does HUBER note Prime Ministers’ selection of policies?

Answer 17

• HUBER notes that PMs are well positioned to obtain policies to their liking
• Hence Political parties are constrained in their ability to shape policy after govt is formed

Question 18

Who says the essence of pure presidentialism is mutual independence?

Answer 18

STEPAN & SKACH

• Creates the possibility for a political impasse which has no constitutionally-available device to break

Question 19

Why does Cheibub believe that majority coalitions are not always formed under presidential systems?

Answer 19

Depends on how much the opposition believes it can gain from opposing the president.
Could opposition increase vote share at next election?

Question 20

In both presidential and parliamentary regimes what occurs when there is increased fractionalization of the party system?

Answer 20

The frequency of coalition governments increases with fractionalization of the party system

Question 21

What is meant by fractionalization of the party system?

Answer 21

When a party is splitting into various faction proponents of different views inside a party