Political Executive

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Chapter 15

• Political Executive

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Political executive

• The top tier of government. Directs the nation's
  affairs, supervises the execution of policy,
  mobilizes support for its goals and offers crisis
  leadership.

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Democratic executivesthree types

• Presidential (e.g., the US)
• Parliamentary (Britain)
• Semi-presidential (France)

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Presidential government

• Three features
• (i) Popular election
• (ii) Fixed terms of offices
• (iii) No overlap in membership

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Presidentialism

• Many presidents, few presidential systems
• Mostly American (US, Mexico, Latin America)
• US model

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American presidency

• How powerful (really)?
• Exceptional powers exercised under exceptional
  limits
• Needs legislative support
• President vs. members of Congress

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• Power to persuade two routes
• Going Washington (Johnson) President as the
  nations most important lobbyist
• Going public (Reagan)
• access to media
• influencing public opinion ? influencing
  Washington

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Presidentialism Brazil

• More formal powers, but also greater limits
  president can
• - issue decrees
• - initiate bills
• - declare bills urgent
• - control over budget ?

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Brazil a fragmented party system

• Institutional roots, institutional effects
• Open party list PR
• Fragmented party system
• Difficult executive/legislative relationships

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Party system fragmented weak

• Fragmented many relatively small parties
  (2002 H19 S10)
• Weak little party discipline
• Brazil vs. US more numerous, far weaker parties
• ? executive/legislative relationship

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How?

• Permanent coalition-building
• Extremely flexible interpretation of separation
  of institutions
• Multiparty coalitions more informal and
  unstable compared with those found in W Europe

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Parliamentary government

• Three features
• (i) Executive emerges from assembly
• (ii) Executive can be dismissed
• (iii) Plural executive

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Puzzle of parliamentarism

• Mutual vulnerability, yet effective government
• Parliamentary government
• single-party majority (UK)
• coalition government (W Europe)

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Majority government (UK)

• Plurality ? single-party majority
• Legislature ? government
• However, government dominates legislature
• Strong party discipline ? MPs follow party
  leadership

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Minority coalition government

• PR ? no party gains majority
• Three types of government
• majority coalition
• minority coalition
• single-party minority government

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Installing the new government

• Three procedures
• positive investiture vote (Germany)
• (lack of) negative investiture vote (Sweden)
• no investiture vote (Denmark)

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Forming a government

• Formateur person/party charged with negotiating
  a coalition
• Types of coalitions
• minimum winning coalition
• oversized coalition
• rainbow coalition

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Keeping government in office

• Germany
• constructive vote of no confidence
• chancellor cannot call new elections (w/o losing
  confidence vote first)
• Assessment? Unstable, yet far less problematic
  than critics charge

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Parliamentarism who governs?

• Patterns of organizing top decision-making
• cabinet government (Finland)
• prime ministerial govt (Britain)
• ministerial government (Netherlands)

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Parliamentary government trends

• Increased importance of Prime Minister reasons
• increased media focus on PM
• growing international role of PM
• growing complexity of governance ? need for
  policy coordination

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Semi-presidential government

• Hybrid regime draws from both presidentialism
  parliamentarism
• Three features (Duverger)
• President popularly elected
• President is powerful
• Powerful PM cabinet who need parliamentary
  support

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Division of authority (France)

• President
• can dissolve assembly
• appoints prime minister (from majority party)
• calls referenda (1958-2005 ten)

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However,

• Prime Minister comes from majority party
  (legislative)
• Prime Minister in charge of domestic affairs
• Legislature confirms and brings down the
  government

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Divided government cohabitation

• Cohabitation occurs in semi-presidential
  executive when president and prime minister come
  from different political camps (ideologies)
• French Fifth Republic three times (1986-88,
  1993-95, 1997-2002)

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Executive in new democracies

• Latin America (presidential) vs. Eastern Europe
  (parliamentary)
• Influence US vs. W Europe
• Legacies previous experiences
• Danger to avoid social instability vs. excessive
  executive power

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Executive in authoritarian states

• Weak institutionalization ?
• ? Succession struggles
• ? Preeminence of politics over policy
• Patriarchal rule (Middle East)
• Personal rule (Africa, Central Asia)

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Totalitarian regimes

• Fascism less institutionalized, more
  personalistic (e.g., Hitler)
• Communism more institutionalized, less
  personalistic
• mimic parliamentary govt (15.5)
• exception Stalin