A NEW POLITICAL SYSTEM

In: European journal of political research: official journal of the European Consortium for Political Research, Band 31, Heft 1-2, S. 125-146

Abstract

THE AUTHOR EXAMINES THE QUESTION OF PARLIAMENTARY VERSUS PRESIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT, FOCUSING ON AN ESSAY BY MAURICE DUVERGER, "A NEW POLITICAL SYSTEM MODEL: SEMI-PRESIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT." IN HIS ESSAY, DUVERGER DEFINED THE CONCEPT OF SEMI-PRESIDENTIAL GOVERNMENT AND ARGUED THAT THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF SEMI-PRESIDENTIAL REGIMES: (1) THE PRESIDENT IS A MERE FIGUREHEAD; (2) THE PRESIDENT IS ALL-POWERFUL; (3) THE PRESIDENT SHARES HIS POWER WITH PARLIAMENT. USING FOUR PARAMETERS -- THE CONTENT OF THE CONSTITUTION, TRADITION AND CIRCUMSTANCES, THE COMPOSITION OF THE PARLIAMENTARY MAJORITY, AND THE POSITION OF THE PRESIDENT IN RELATION TO THE MAJORITY -- HE EXPLAINED WHY SIMILAR CONSTITUTIONS ARE APPLIED IN RADICALLY DIFFERENT MANNERS.