Search results

Describes delegation & accountability in Greece, focusing on the effects of the 1975 Constitution upon presidential & parliamentary powers. The post-dictatorship origins of the Constitution are examined, as are its provisions of parliamentary legislation & constitutional amendments. The process of delegation & accountability is clearly delineated & highly institutionalized according to the Constitution. But the influence of clientistic networks prevents Greece from being regarded as a model of delegation & accountability. The 1975 Constitution also strove to "rationalize" Greek political institutions, as exemplified by cabinet-Parliament relations. The cabinet has clear dominance over Parliament in legislation, bolstered by an electoral system that favors such power relations. But with the receding of charismatic leaders, intra-parliamentary divisions are increasingly questioning cabinet supremacy, shifting the balance of power to the Parliament. 1 Table, 37 References. K. Coddon

A spirited debate has arisen over the best approach to the analysis of the durability of governing coalitions in parliamentary democracies. In this controversy, Kaare Strom enters a number of criticisms of the stochastic modeling approach offered by Eric C. Browne, John P. Frendreis, and Dennis W. Gleiber, and by Claudio Cioffi-Revilla. In turn, Browne and his colleagues join the issue.

G Bingham Powell's core intellectual contribution to the study of politics has been to help us understand fundamental normative tradeoffs that are inherent to institutional choice in democratic political systems. The tradeoffs involve dimensions of political performance of central concern in the discipline, including political violence, political participation, political representation, political accountability, and political stability. In offering innovative insights about these substantive topics, Powell's research has played a crucial role in shaping the subfield of comparative politics by offering important lessons about how to advance the study of democratic systems.