The Fusion of Presidentialism and Parliamentarism
57 American Journal of Comparative Law 531 (2009)
Boston College Law School Legal Studies Research Paper No. 190
49 Pages Posted: 28 Jun 2009 Last revised: 4 Sep 2020
Date Written: 2009
Abstract
No question of constitutional design is more intensely debated than whether emerging democracies should adopt presidential or parliamentary systems. This is an important debate but it misses a critical point about constitutional design - namely that the structural differences between presidentialism and parliamentarism conceal much more than they reveal. In this Article, I demonstrate precisely how conventional accounts of the structural differences between presidentialism and parliamentarism actually obscure their functional similarities.
Keywords: comparative constitutional law, presidentialism, parliamentarism, constitutional design, efficiency, electoral systems, separation of powers, fusion of powers
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