PRESIDENTIALIZATION OF PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEMS: COMPARATIVE ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK

The author thematizes the concept of presidentialization of parliamentary democracies, which was developed most systematically in comparative politics by Thomas Poguntke and Paul Webb. The concept of presidentialization designates a process through which parliamentary systems become increasingly presidential in their functional logic and political practice, with no actual alteration of the formal institutional arrangement, i.e. of the type of regime. The initial presidentialist processes were observed in British politics of the 1960s, and they were analysed through a descriptive debate on whether the British Government was prime ministerial or cabinet. The main theoretical rival to the concept of presidentialization is the core executive model, which was expounded in the early 1990s by Dunleavy and Rhodes. According to the core executive model, relations between the principal actors within executive power are determined by dependence, not domination. According to the concept of presidentialization, parliamentary systems are characterised by a shift from collective to individual political might and responsibility. The principal actor is the Prime Minister, who dominates the other actors due to the institutional and personal resources at his disposal. Research into presidentialization can be conducted on the levels of executive power, of political parties and of the electoral process.