Robert Elgie examines the relationship between semi-presidentialism and democratic performance. There are over 50 countries with a semi-presidential constitution. This book shows that the president-parliamentary sub-type is more likely to be associated with a poorer democratic performance than its premier-presidential counterpart.

• Acknowledgments


• List of Tables


• 1: The Perils of Semi-Presidentialism?


• 2: Variation within Semi-Presidentialism


• 3: Varieties of Semi-Presidentialism and Democratic Survival


• 4: Varieties of Semi-Presidentialism and the Performance of Democracy


• 5: Semi-Presidentialism and Democratic Survival and Collapse - Country Narratives


• 6: The Performance of Democracy under Semi-Presidentialism - Country Narratives


• 7: Premier-Presidentialism, President-Parliamentarism and Democratic Performance: Indicative Case Studies


• 8: Conclusion


• Bibliography


• Index

Robert Elgie is the co-editor of the journal French Politics published by Palgrave and the co-editor of the Routledge/ECPR Studies in European Political Science series. He has published extensively on comparative politics, semi-presidentialism and French politics. He is Paddy Moriarty Professor of Government and International Studies at Dublin City University.