POLSC 135 1st Edition Lecture 36 Outline of Last Lecture Different Types of Government Outline of Current Lecture Making and Breaking Governments Presidential Democracies Current Lecture I Size of presidential cabinets Minority governments should be more frequent in presidential democracies than parliamentary ones A minority government that enjoys the implicit support of a legislative majority can exist in both presidential and parliamentary democracies However a minority government that does not have the implicit support of a legislative majority can exist in presidential regimes but not in parliamentary ones Thus minority governments should be more common in presidential regimes All presidents have the ability to issue decrees A presidential decree is an order by the president that has the force of law The scope and strength of presidential decrees vary from country to country Decrees in the United States executive orders allow presidents only to regulate and interpret statutes already enacted by the legislature the president cannot enact II new laws In other countries though the president can issue decree laws decrees that immediately become law even when faced with a hostile legislature Government A semi presidential democracy is one in which the government depends on a legislative majority and on an independently elected president to exist Two types of semi presidential democracy both of which have legislative responsibility Premier presidential president has no power to remove the government President parliamentary president can remove the government Presidential responsibility refers to the ability of the president to dismiss the government and individual ministers or to dissolve the legislature The government comprises a prime minister and a cabinet In a semi presidential democracy the executive branch comprises the government and the president the president is part of the executive branch but not part of the government III There is no guarantee that the president and the prime minister will come from the same political party Cohabitation a president from one political political bloc and a prime minister from another occurs when the party of the president does not control a legislative majority Cohabitation The president nearly always gets to appoint the prime minister So why do we get cohabitation Remember that the government must enjoy the support of a legislative majority Thus the president may need to appoint a prime minister from an opposition party when the president s party of bloc does not control a legislative majority We can view all democracies as different systems of delegation Delegation occurs when one person or group principal relies on another person or group agent to act on the principle s behalf Delegation is crucial for representative democracy End Lecture