Elgie, RobertORCID: 0000-0001-5334-4796
(1999)
The politics of semi-presidentialism.
In: Elgie, Robert, (ed.)
Semi-presidentialism in Europe.
Comparative European politics
.
Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, pp. 1-21.
ISBN 0198293860
This chapter provides an introduction to the concept of semi-presidentialism and establishes a framework for the study of the politics of semi-presidential regimes. In the first part of the chapter, the evolution of the concept of semi-presidentialism will be sketched, some of the main criticisms of the concept will be considered, a slight reformulation of the standard definition of the term will be proposed and a list of semi-presidential regimes will be identified. In the second part of the chapter, a framework for the comparative study of semi-presidential regimes will be outlined. In this way, then, this chapter provides the basis both for the in-depth country studies of semi-presidentialism which follow and for the conclusion which examines the comparative experience of semi-presidentialism and addresses the issue of whether or not countries should adopt a semi-presidential form of government in preference to either presidential or parliamentary forms of government.