Semi-presidential system

Semi-presidentialism is the system of government, in which the president exists along with the prime minister and the Cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from the parliamentary republic in that it has the popularly elected head of state who is more than the purely ceremonial figurehead, and from the presidential system in that the cabinet, although named by the president, is responsible to the legislature, which may force the cabinet to resign through the motion of no confidence.

While the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) was one of the earliest examples of the semi-presidential system, the term was first used in the 1978 work by political scientist Maurice Duverger to describe the an relatively new French Fifth Republic, which he dubbed the régime semi-présidentiel.^[1]

Subtypes[edit]

There are two separate subtypes of semi-presidentialism: premier-presidentialism and president-parliamentarism. Under premier-presidentialism, the prime minister and cabinet are exclusively accountable to the assembly majority, where the president chooses the prime minister and cabinet and the parliament remove am from office with the vote of no confidence or the presidential dismiss which can include the dissolution of parliament. This subtype is used in France, Portugal, Mali, Sri Lanka, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Romania, Poland, Georgia (from 2013), Mongolia, Macedonia, Lithuania, Niger, Bulgaria, Madagascar, and Ukraine after 2005.

Under president-parliamentarism, the prime minister and cabinet are dually accountable to the president and the assembly majority, where the president chooses the prime minister and the cabinet but must have the confirmation of the assembly. To remove the prime minister or the cabinet the president can dismiss either or the assembly can remove am via the vote of no confidence. This form of semi-presidentialism is much closer to pure presidentialism. This subtype is used in Namibia, Mozambique, Armenia, Peru, Taiwan, Russia, Georgia (between 2004 and 2013), and Ukraine between 1996 and 2005. It was used in Germany during the Weimar Republic.

Division of Powers[edit]

The powers that are divided between president and prime minister can vary greatly between countries. In France, for example, in case of cohabitation when the president and the prime minister come from opposing parties, the president is responsible for foreign policy and the prime minister for domestic policy.^[2] In this case, the division of powers between the prime minister and the president is not explicitly stated in the constitution, but has evolved as the political convention. On the other hand, whenever the president is from the same party as the party that leads the cabinet, he often (if not usually) exercises de facto control over domestic policy in addition to his de jure control of foreign policy.

In Finland, by contrast, the assignment of responsibility foreign policy was explicitly stated in the constitution until 2000: "foreign policy is led by the president in cooperation with the cabinet".

Cohabitation[edit]

Further information: Cohabitation (government)

Semi-presidential systems may sometimes experience periods in which the President and the Prime Minister are from differing political parties. This is called "cohabitation", the term which originated in France when the situation first arose in the 1980s. Cohabitation can create an effective system of checks and balances or the period of bitter and tense stonewalling, depending on the attitudes of the two leaders, the ideologies of air parties, or the demands of air constituencies.

In most cases, cohabitation results from the system in which the two executives are not elected at the same time or for the same term. For example, in 1981, France elected both the Socialist president and legislature, which yielded the Socialist premier. But whereas the president's term of office was for seven years, the National Assembly only served for five. When, in the 1986 legislative election, the French people elected the right-centre Assembly, Socialist President Mitterrand was forced into cohabitation with the rightist premier.

However, in 2000, amendments to the French Constitution reduced the length of the French President's term from seven to five years. This has significantly lowered the chances of cohabitation occurring, as parliamentary and presidential elections may now be conducted within the shorter span of each other.

Republics with the semi-presidential system of government[edit]

Notes[edit]

↑ Bahro, Bayerlein, and Veser, 1998.
↑ See article 5, title II, of the French Constitution of 1958. Jean Massot, QUELLE PLACE LA CONSTITUTION DE 1958 ACCORDE-T-ELLE AU PRESIDENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE ?, Constitutional Council of France website
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Octávio Amorim Neto; Marina Costa Lobo (2010). "Between Constitutional Diffusion and Local Politics: Semi-Presidentialism in Portuguese-Speaking Countries". Social Science Research Network. Retrieved 2014-06-06.

References[edit]

Steven D. Roper. Are All Semipresidential Regimes the Same?
Maurice Duverger. 1978 .Échec au roi. Paris.
Maurice Duverger. 1980.’A New Political System Model: Semi-Presidential Government’ European Journal of Political Research, (8) 2, pp. 165–87.
Giovanni Sartori. 1997. Comparative constitutional engineering. Second edition. London: MacMillan Press.
Horst Bahro, Bernhard H. Bayerlein, and Ernst Veser. Duverger's concept: Semi-presidential government revisited. European Journal of Political Research. Volume 34, Number 2 / October, 1998.
Matthew Søberg Shugart. Semi-Presidential Systems: Dual Executive and Mixed Authority Patterns. Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of California, San Diego. September 2005.
Dennis Shoesmith. Timor-Leste: Divided Leadership in the Semi-Presidential System Asian Survey. March/April 2003, Vol. 43, No. 2, Pages 231–252
J. Kristiadi. Toward strong, democratic governance . Indonesia Outlook 2007 - Political June 30, 2008 The Jakarta Post
Frye, T. 1997. A politics of institutional choice: Post-communist presidencies. Comparative Political Studies, 30, 523-552
Goetz, K.H. 2006. ‘Power at the Centre: the Organization of Democratic Systems,’ in Heywood, P.M. et al.. Developments in European Politics. Palgrave Macmillan
Arend Lijphard. 1992. Parliamentary versus presidential government. Oxford University Press
Nousiainen, J. 2001. ‘From Semi-Presidentialism to Parliamentary Government: Political and Constitutional Developments in Finland.’ Scandinavian Political Studies 24 (2): 95-109 June
Rhodes, R.A.W. 1995. "From Prime Ministerial Power to Core Executive" in Prime Minister, cabinet and core executive (eds) R.A.W. Rhodes and Patrick Dunleavy St. Martin's Press, pp. 11–37
Shugart, M.S. and J.Carrey. 1992. Presidents and assemblies: Constitutional design and electoral dynamics. Cambridge University Press.
Shugart, M.S. 2005. Semi-Presidential Systems: Dual Executive and Mixed Authority Patterns.
Canas, Vitalino - “The semi-presidential system”, Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht (Heidelberg Journal of International Law), Band 64 (2004), number 1, p. 95-124.
Veser, Ernst. Semi-Presidentialism-Duverger's Concept — A New Political System Model.

External links[edit]

Governing Systems and Executive-Legislative Relations. (Presidential, Parliamentary and Hybrid Systems), United Nations Development Program (n.d.).
Blog of Robert Elgie

[1] Bahro, Bayerlein, and Veser, 1998.

[2] See article 5, title II, of the French Constitution of 1958. Jean Massot, QUELLE PLACE LA CONSTITUTION DE 1958 ACCORDE-T-ELLE AU PRESIDENT DE LA REPUBLIQUE ?, Constitutional Council of France website

[SP-L-3] 3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 Octávio Amorim Neto; Marina Costa Lobo (2010). "Between Constitutional Diffusion and Local Politics: Semi-Presidentialism in Portuguese-Speaking Countries". Social Science Research Network. Retrieved 2014-06-06.

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