Chiku Shou - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Chiku Shou

Parliamentary and Presidential Democracies: Which One is Best? With the exception of the United S... more Parliamentary and Presidential Democracies: Which One is Best? With the exception of the United States, where a system of separation of executive and legislative powers exists, all countries that are considered to be stable democracies adopt a constitution that is, at least partially, parliamentary. A parliamentary constitution is characterized by the fusion of executive and legislative powers, achieved by the fact that the government needs the confidence of a majority in the legislative assembly in order to come to and remain in power. Parliamentarism is popular among both academics and politicians. The main reasons for this follow from the crucial distinction between parliamentarism and presidentialism: the fact that under parliamentarism legislatures may remove the government via the approval of a vote of no-confidence. When such votes are passed, either a new government is formed or, in case this is not possible, new elections are held. Under presidentialism, in turn, the government and the legislature serve fixed and independent terms in office. T This basic difference is thought to produce a number of consequences for the way these systems operate: • • • • Under presidentialism, it is thought, governments are not likely to be supported by a majority of the legislature since there is nothing in the system that guarantees that such a majority will exist. Deadlocks between the government and the legislature, thus, would be common under presidentialism and would lead to conflict between the two powers. Coalitions in presidential regimes are thought to be rare, again due to the fact that noting in the system would provide the incentives for individual politicians and their political parties to cooperate with one another and the government. Decision-making under presidentialism is normally considered to be decentralized, that is, to be such that the president simply responds to proposals originated in the legislature, which is, in turn, organized in such a way as to allow for politicians to pursue individualistic rather than partisan strategies. As a consequence, the government's ability to influence and implement policy is reduced and " crises of governability " are more likely to occur. Together, thus, these observations may seem to make a compelling case that countries seeking to establish a lasting democratic order should adopt a parliamentary form of government. Yet, none of these arguments is sufficient to make a presidential regime an unattractive choice per se. To begin with, democracies at low levels of income per capita face high risks of collapse, regardless of their form of government. As a matter of fact, when per capita income is less than $1,000 (in 1985 PPP USD), parliamentary democracies are more likely to die (that is, to become a dictatorship) than presidential democracies: the expected life of the former is 7 years whereas the expected life of the latter is 10 years. The difference is not very large and hence not much should be made of it. What matters is that, at low levels of income, both types of democracy face equally high risks, with the form of government making little difference for the survival prospects

Parliamentary and Presidential Democracies: Which One is Best? With the exception of the United S... more Parliamentary and Presidential Democracies: Which One is Best? With the exception of the United States, where a system of separation of executive and legislative powers exists, all countries that are considered to be stable democracies adopt a constitution that is, at least partially, parliamentary. A parliamentary constitution is characterized by the fusion of executive and legislative powers, achieved by the fact that the government needs the confidence of a majority in the legislative assembly in order to come to and remain in power. Parliamentarism is popular among both academics and politicians. The main reasons for this follow from the crucial distinction between parliamentarism and presidentialism: the fact that under parliamentarism legislatures may remove the government via the approval of a vote of no-confidence. When such votes are passed, either a new government is formed or, in case this is not possible, new elections are held. Under presidentialism, in turn, the government and the legislature serve fixed and independent terms in office. T This basic difference is thought to produce a number of consequences for the way these systems operate: • • • • Under presidentialism, it is thought, governments are not likely to be supported by a majority of the legislature since there is nothing in the system that guarantees that such a majority will exist. Deadlocks between the government and the legislature, thus, would be common under presidentialism and would lead to conflict between the two powers. Coalitions in presidential regimes are thought to be rare, again due to the fact that noting in the system would provide the incentives for individual politicians and their political parties to cooperate with one another and the government. Decision-making under presidentialism is normally considered to be decentralized, that is, to be such that the president simply responds to proposals originated in the legislature, which is, in turn, organized in such a way as to allow for politicians to pursue individualistic rather than partisan strategies. As a consequence, the government's ability to influence and implement policy is reduced and " crises of governability " are more likely to occur. Together, thus, these observations may seem to make a compelling case that countries seeking to establish a lasting democratic order should adopt a parliamentary form of government. Yet, none of these arguments is sufficient to make a presidential regime an unattractive choice per se. To begin with, democracies at low levels of income per capita face high risks of collapse, regardless of their form of government. As a matter of fact, when per capita income is less than $1,000 (in 1985 PPP USD), parliamentary democracies are more likely to die (that is, to become a dictatorship) than presidential democracies: the expected life of the former is 7 years whereas the expected life of the latter is 10 years. The difference is not very large and hence not much should be made of it. What matters is that, at low levels of income, both types of democracy face equally high risks, with the form of government making little difference for the survival prospects