Overview

The Presidentialization of Politics shows how democratic political systems are coming to operate according to an essentially presidential logic, irrespective of their formal constitutional make-up. The logic of presidentialization is revealed in the growing power and autonomy of political leaders within political executives and political parties, and in the emergence of increasingly leadership-centred electoral processes. While these developments to some extent reflect the fluctuating contingencies of particular personalities and short-term political contexts, they are more fundamentally explained by processes of long-term structural change affecting state and society. Such processes include the internationalization of political decision-making, the executive's search for enhanced steering capacity over the state, the changing structure of mass communications, and the erosion of traditional political cleavages. The book presents evidence confirming the existence of the presidentialization phenomenon across a heterogeneous mix of established democracies. While there are significant cross-national differences, the overall thesis holds: Modern democracies increasingly follow a presidential logic which renders leaders both more central and more vulnerable, their power and their susceptibility each rooted in the capacity to sustain a personal appeal to mass publics.

Full Product Details

Author:   Thomas Poguntke (Professor of Political Science, Keele University) ,  Paul Webb (Professor of Politics, University of Sussex)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press
Imprint:   Oxford University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.70cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.718kg
ISBN:  

9780199252015

ISBN 10:   0199252017
Pages:   380
Publication Date:   01 April 2005
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
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Table of Contents

1. The Presidentialization of Politics in Democratic Societies: A Framework for Analysis, Thomas Poguntke and Paul Webb 2. The British Prime Minister: Much More Than 'First Among Equals', Richard Heffernan and Paul Webb 3. A Presidentializing Party State? The Federal Republic of Germany, Thomas Poguntke 4. Presidentialization, Italian Style, Mauro Calise 5. The Presidentialization of Spanish Democracy: Sources of Prime Ministerial Power in Post-Franco Spain, Ingrid van Biezen and Jonathan Hopkin 6. The Low Countries: From Prime Minister to President-Minister, Stefaan Fiers and Andre Krouwel 7. Denmark: Presidentialization in a Consensual Democracy, Karina Pedersen and Tim Knudsen 8. 'President Persson': How did Sweden get Him?, Nicholas Aylott 9. Canada: Executive Dominance and Presidentialization, Herman Bakvis and Steven B. Wolinetz 10. Dyarchic Presidentialization in a Presidentialized Polity: The Fifth French Republic, Ben Clift 11. Finland: Let the Force Be with the Leader - But Who is the Leader?, Heikki Paloheimo 12. The Presidentialization of Portuguese Democracy?, Marina Costa Lobo 13. The Failure of Presidential Parliamentarism: Constitutional versus Structural Presidentialization in Israel's Parliamentary Democracy, Reuven Y. Hazan 14. The Semi-Sovereign American Prince: The Dilemma of an Independent President in a Presidential Government, Sergio Fabbrini 15. The Presidentialization of Contemporary Democratic Politics: Evidence, Causes, and Consequences, Paul Webb and Thomas Poguntke

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