Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America

Download or read book Presidentialism and Democracy in Latin America written by Scott Mainwaring and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-05-13 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Addressing the current debate regarding the liabilities and merits of presidential government, this work asks: does presidentialism make it less likely that democratic governments will be able to manage political conflict, as many prominent scholars have argued? With the unprecedented wave of transitions to democracy since the 1970s, this question has been hotly contested in political and intellectual circles all over the globe. The contributors to this volume examine variations among different presidential systems and sceptically view claims that presidentialism has added significantly to the problems of democratic governance and stability. The contributors argue that presidential systems vary in important ways, mostly according to the constitutional powers accorded to the president to affect legislation and the degree to which presidents parties control legislative majorities.