CPO 3930 Final Exam Separation of Origin voters vote for legislatures and for executives Ex President is elected directly through a process separate from that of the Separation of Function President administrates carries out the law legislators focus on creating writing laws True separation of powers in presidential systems It doesn t actually exist o it is a system of checks and balances law making and administration power over lap considerably to which forms checks and balances Pure presidentialism the separation of origin and survival 1 popular election of chief executive 2 the terms of the chief executive and assembly are fixed and are not contingent on mutual confidence a the presidents term is set on a fixed amount of years regardless of his likeability in office 3 the executive once elected directs the composition of the government a president nominates cabinet members i Ex prominent politicians professionals technocrats 4 The president has some constitutionally granted lawmaking authority Mutual Confidence Developed in the Parliamentary systems Originally the Crown s ministry became ministry subject to the confidence of a majority of the assembly An elected official has a definite start and end date Therefore the president is not dependent on legislative confidence Fixed Term Term Limit Imposition of term limits stems from a concern for authoritarian domination of the presidential branch Term limits are a way to prevent dynastic presidencies In US term limits were adopted after FDR Professional experience of cabinet members in presidential and parliamentary systems Presidential President nominates and heads the cabinet members o Cabinet members prominent politicians professionals technocrats o Implies that the entire executive is the presidents domain Parliamentary government composition is the result of a negotiated bargain o Parliament is responsible for the composition of the executive Constitutional vs Delegated lawmaking authority Presidentialism Constitutional o The president has some constitutional granted lawmaking authority o A way of ensuring that the popular endorsement of a policy program through a presidential election can be translated into actual policy output Parliamentarism Delegated o The parliamentary government has delegated lawmaking authority from the parliamentary majority Single Person Executive One person has overall say in the executive branch Pure Presidentialism implies this Proportionality in presidential systems By virtue of the electoral by which presidents are elected presidentialism is inherently disproportional o DM 1 therefore it cannot be divided and proportionally represented Pitfalls of presidentialism and related arguments 1 Temporal Rigidity refer to the set length of presidential and congressional terms a Problem What to do with a highly unpopular president or one who faces stiff majority opposition in congress i Such presidents will be unable to initiate and purse effectively ii Presidential systems have no institutionalized means of removing their legislative programs an unpopular chief executive 2 Majoritarian Tendencies within most presidential systems a Problem Concerned with the effects of electoral disproportionality which distort the accuracy of representation i Can lead to political extremism 3 Dual Democratic Legitimacies o Because both the assembly and exective are popularly elected both can claim a unique popular mandate o The need for cooperation between president and congress is not urgent because the tenure of members of each branch is unaffected by relations with the other o Problem the electoral process in presidential systems facilitates the selection of political outsiders as chief executives o A result is that we can expect presidents to have less political experiences than prime ministers o The systems dual democratic legitimacies generate no incentives for members of the assembly to seek agreement with the executive Minority incorporation in cabinets and how that might pertain to majoritarianism in presidential systems Because presidential systems are inherently majoritarian it provides poor representation for minorities Because dominance of presidents over the rest of the cabinet minority representation is more symbolic and less meaningful in presidential than in parliamentary systems o Lack of meaningful representation in cabinets hinders the ability of presidential systems to resolve conflicts based on political cleavages Descriptive representation in presidential cabinets Minority representation in presidential cabinets is characterized by tokenism Minority presidentialism and winner takes all examples The winner of the presidential election takes 100 of the seats because there is only one seat o The importance of capturing the presidency becomes paramount because of the exclusive nature of the unitary executive The result is that the head of state and of government may accurately represent only a minority of voters The winner takes all of the executive and depending on the timing of the election which is essential they can expect more than there share of congress o Example Salvador Allende in Chile This creates a majoritarian government Public mandate The phenomenon of winner takes all can inspire a false sense of popular public mandate The misperception inhibits cooperation and consensus building between the president and opposition Canonical example of the pitfalls of presidentialism Main criticism When the executive and assembly are of different political tendencies this overlap in lawmaking author can generate deadlock Empirical limitations of the presidential pitfalls literature Breakdown of democracy in the 1960 s o Latin America Personalism and presidentialism Personalism a base of political support which is tired to the aura and charisma of a particular leader Presidential success hinges more on persona charisma more than ideology or partisanship Methods of popular executive election where advantages and disadvantages Electoral Collage o Voters cast ballot for president o Electoral votes are allocated on the basis of state s population o Electoral college votes determine the presidential winner o Advantages Electors can vote for anyone though they typically vote in line with the popular vote Prevents a victory based solely on urban areas Maintains separation of powers Minority and interest groups can have a great impact in swaying votes due to winner take all system Popular vote does not always