Reforms of the Presidency and Their Repercussions on Regime Trajectories

Abstract

Following the declaration once raised by Juan Linz that presidentialism and semi-presidentialism are less conducive to democracy than parliamentarism a large number of studies have debated and analysed the functioning and performance of presidential and semi-presidential regimes. With few exceptions, empirical findings suggest that for transitional regimes a constrained presidency is favourable. Yet, constitutional reforms around the world take different directions. Constraining the presidency by introducing restrictions on presidential powers across countries in Central Europe, Latin America and Africa, stands in sharp contrast to opposite reforms in e.g. Turkey and several post-Soviet states, where the outcome has been increased power of already powerful presidents. This panel provides theoretical perspectives and new empirical findings on constitutional reforms of the presidency across and within single countries.