POLSC 135 1st Edition Lecture 36Outline of Last Lecture:Different Types of Government Outline of Current Lecture: Making and Breaking Governments: Presidential DemocraciesCurrent 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 andinterpret statutes already enacted by the legislature; the president cannot enact new laws. - In other countries, though, the president can issue “decree-laws” decrees that immediately become law-even when faced with a hostile legislature. II. 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.- 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. III. 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