Semi-Presidential Systems

Semi-presidentialism has become a widespread form of government in recent decades. If we use Robert Elgie’s frequently cited definition, semi-presidentialism is where the constitution includes both a popularly elected president and a prime minister and cabinet accountable to the parliament. With this inclusive definition, there are currently more than fifty countries in the world with a semi-presidential constitution. In eastern Europe and in the former Soviet republics, semi-presidentialism has emerged as the most common regime type with presently some twenty countries having semi-presidential constitutions. Although semi-presidentialism as a term has been around since the 1970s, the debate about its definition and what countries to be classified as semi-presidential is still ongoing. Consequently, lists of semi-presidential countries have varied quite considerably between studies. A core idea of semi-presidentialism is that the respective roles of the dual executive, the president and the prime minister, should be complementary: the president upholds popular legitimacy and represents the continuity of state and nation, while the prime minister exercises policy leadership and takes responsibility for the day-to-day functions of government. Yet, two separately chosen chief executives also implies a risk of conflict over powers and executive control. This risk is aggravated in a transitional context where the distribution of authority is ambiguous and fluid. In many instances, this has paved the way for autocratic tendencies where presidents have overstepped their constitutional boundaries. Hence, comparative research on semi-presidentialism has largely revolved around democratization, presidential powers, and the institutional relations between the president, prime minister, and parliament. This guiding overview presents key literature on these core topics of semi-presidentialism including definitions and classifications, regions and countries, democratization and democratic survival, presidential powers, inter-institutional relations, parties, elections, and presidentialization. Several relevant method and data issues are covered by the studies under each heading.