Global Crises and Intra-Executive Dynamics

Abstract

Intra-executive dynamics are primarily concerned with the evolution of the relationship between the president and the government. It may be a political competition between the president and the prime minister over the control of political resources available to the executive. This could also include intra-executive cooperation to achieve successful policy coordination. The intra-executive relationship exhibits variations across presidential and semi-presidential regimes, and their impact on political and socio-economic outcomes is also subject to variation. Existing research has examined patterns of intra-executive conflict and coordination under semi-presidentialism (Elgie, 2017; Protsyk, 2006; Sedelius & Mashtaler, 2013; Raunio & Sedelius, 2020; Yan, 2021), and how they affect democratic survival, cabinet stability, and political trust in semi-presidential systems (Kirschke, 2007; Elgie, 2010; Sedelius & Ekman, 2010; Ecevit & Karakoç, 2017). Nonetheless, the majority of research is conducted outside of a crisis framework. Recent global crises have furthermore exposed new intra-executive fault lines and limits to presidential unilateralism in executive politics. Executive coordination and a temporary power shift to the government in response to COVID-19 may mitigate dual-legitimacy problems built into semi-presidentialism, thus raising individual compliance to government pandemic policies, which in turn will help the government respond quickly to pandemics (Yan, 2023). War may, however, lead to the centralization of powers around the president, clearly subordinating the PM (Mashtaler, 2023). Despite this, these findings will benefit from a comparative analysis of different regimes. The panel aims to provide fresh perspectives on intra-executive dynamics in times of national and global crisis. References: Ecevit, Y.A. and E. Karakoç (2017), ‘The perils of semi-presidentialism: confidence in political institutions in contemporary democracies’, International Political Science Review 38(1): 4–20. Elgie, R. (2010), ‘Semi-presidentialism, cohabitation and the collapse of electoral democracies, 1990–2008’, Government and Opposition 45(1): 29–49. Elgie, R. (2017), ‘Presidential power and president cabinet conflict’, in R. Elgie (ed.), Political Leadership: A Pragmatic Institutionalist Approach, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 127–149. Kirschke, L. (2007), ‘Semi-presidentialism and the perils of power-sharing in neopatrimonial states’, Comparative Political Studies 40(11): 1372–1394. Mashtaler, O. (2023), ‘Executive coordination in Ukraine during Zelenskyi’s presidency’, unpublished manuscript. Protsyk, O. (2006), ‘Intra-executive competition between president and prime minister: patterns of institutional conflict and cooperation under semi-presidentialism’, Political Studies 54(2): 219–244. Raunio, T. and T. Sedelius (2020), Semi-presidential Policy-making in Europe: Executive Coordination and Political Leadership, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Sedelius, T. and J. Ekman (2010), ‘Intra-executive conflict and cabinet instability: effects of semi-presidentialism in Central and Eastern Europe’, Government and Opposition 45(4): 505–530. Sedelius, T. and O. Mashtaler (2013), ‘Two decades of semi-presidentialism: issues of intra-executive conflict in Central and Eastern Europe 1991–2011’, East European Politics 29(2): 109–134. Yan, H.T. (2021), ‘Prime ministerial autonomy and intra-executive conflict under semi-presidentialism’, European Political Science Review 13(3): 285–306. Yan, H.T. (2023), ‘Taiwan can help: the political impacts and lessons of Taiwan’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic’, in W.C. Lee (ed.), Protests, Pandemic, and Security Predicaments: Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and the US in the 2020s, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 147–185.

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