Review article

PRESIDENTIALIZATION OF PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS: COMPARATIVE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

Dario Nikić Čakar ; Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

The author thematizes the concept of presidentialization of parliamentary democracies,
which was developed most systematically in comparative politics
by Thomas Poguntke and Paul Webb. The concept of presidentialization designates
a process through which parliamentary systems become increasingly
presidential in their functional logic and political practice, with no actual alteration
of the formal institutional arrangement, i.e. of the type of regime.
The initial presidentialist processes were observed in British politics of the
1960s, and they were analysed through a descriptive debate on whether the
British Government was prime ministerial or cabinet. The main theoretical
rival to the concept of presidentialization is the core executive model, which
was expounded in the early 1990s by Dunleavy and Rhodes. According to
the core executive model, relations between the principal actors within executive
power are determined by dependence, not domination. According to
the concept of presidentialization, parliamentary systems are characterised by
a shift from collective to individual political might and responsibility. The
principal actor is the Prime Minister, who dominates the other actors due to
the institutional and personal resources at his disposal. Research into presidentialization
can be conducted on the levels of executive power, of political parties and of the electoral process.

Keywords

concept of presidentialization; core executive model; parliamentary democracy; Great Britain; comparative politics

Hrčak ID:

47213

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/47213

Publication date:

23.12.2009.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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