1,721,444 research outputs found
The Elephant in the Room in Presidential Politics: Informal Powers in Western Europe
Full text linkPresidents’ informal powers remain under-investigated especially in Western European democracies. This gap might hamper the full understanding of how presidents ultimately behave and act. The objective of this article is twofold. First, it aims at adopting a definition of presidents’ informal powers by distinguishing them from formal ones and from informal institutions. Second, it distinguishes among different kind of informal powers by focusing on why presidents use them. To this end, a typology based on the following two criteria is proposed: (1) the existence of formal powers at disposal of the president in a specific sphere and (2) the evaluation of public support each individual president thinks to enjoy should they act or refrain. Four types of informal powers can be derived from these dimensions: substitutive informal powers, parallel informal powers, risk-taking informal powers and subverting informal powers
The Informal Powers of Western European Presidents. A Way out of Weakness
No full textThe book explores how weak presidents directly or indirectly elected can still play a crucial role in the political arena. Weak presidents have been distinguished from strong ones by relying on the evaluation of the powers they display according to the constitution. Six Western European countries are analysed: Germany and Italy which present a consistent constitutional design (as weak presidents are elected indirectly), and Austria, Ireland, Finland and Portugal that present inconsistent constitutional design (as weak presidents are elected directly). In contrast to much of the existing comparative works on presidential powers and activism, the book emphasises the role and the use of informal powers beyond that of formal ones. In particular, a definition and a typology of informal powers are provided as well as an empirical investigation on informal presidential activism. The positive outcome of presidential informal interventions are studied by relying on an interactionist approach which combines presidency-centred as well as president centred-explanations. The book argues that when dealing with informal presidential activism the opportunity structure matters but presidential public support matters even more
Recensione su L'associazionismo intercomunale. Politiche ed interventi delle Regioni italiane: il caso del Veneto, a cura di Patrizia Messina, Padova, Cleup, 2009, in “Sviluppo locale”, N. 32-33/2008-9 anno XIII, pp. 224
No full text
Political careers and stability in office of regional ministers in Italy
Full text linkModels of political representation and selection in the Italian regions have undergone major changes since the mid-1990s, due to the new framework of opportunities based on a presidential form of government and a new party system. We aim to understand the extent to which certain socio-economic characteristics and political profiles influence the stability of the tenure of Regional Ministers (RMs), using an original dataset of 1121 RMs in ordinary
statute regions. Our results show that political affiliation and regional political experience are crucial for holding office and even certain socio-economic features such as gender and age. Indeed, centrist politicians are less likely to remain in office than those who belong to other parties. Furthermore, they are more likely to stay in office longer if they have a high level of regional experience
- …
