 Dimensions for evaluating democratic institutions.  Normative  Positive  Defining presidential, parliamentary, and mixed democracies  How do they work?  Implications of executive-legislative relations for policies and stability of democracy.

 Protection of liberty  Protection of minorities  Decisiveness, especially under stress  Credibility of commitments  Stability  Quality of democracy  Representativeness  Accountability  Rent-seeking and corruption

 Public versus private goods  Broad versus targeted programs and expenditures  The extent of redistribution  Budget deficits  Size of government as a share of GDP

 Crucial questions:  How is the executive selected?  Is the executive dependent on legislative confidence?

French president French Prime Minister

 Protection of liberty, prevention of tyranny.

 Some issues: ▪ Madison and Hamilton: Ambition should counteract ambition ▪ But tyranny in parliamentary democracies? ▪ Too much power in hands of president? Russia? Too easy to fall into authoritarianism?

 Decisiveness, especially under stress.

 Some issues: ▪ Madison and Hamilton again: Good to have one individual rather than collegial executive ▪ Can’t a PM be decisive? ▪ What about presidents without legislative backing?

 Credibility of commitments, policy stability

 Some issues: ▪ Uncertainty about coalitions ▪ Decree authority ▪ Gridlock

 Stability of democracy.  What did you learn in the readings?

 Stability of democracy.  What did you learn in the readings?  Why do presidential democracies fail?  Gridlock, divided government ▪ Why do presidential systems end up with divided government?

 Stability of democracy.  What did you learn in the readings?  Why do presidential democracies fail?  Gridlock, divided government ▪ Why do presidential systems end up with divided government? ▪ Geography ▪ Balancing

 The disciplining role of the no-confidence procedure  What incentives do individual members of the legislature face?

 Is there a problem with presidential democracy, or perhaps a problem with multi- party presidential democracy?

 In the United States?  In a multi-party presidential system like Brazil?

 Rent-seeking and corruption?

 Some issues: ▪ Parliamentarism: Politicians can collude, less oversight because of lacking division of power ▪ But what about the problem of decree authority under presidentialism?

 Pork versus national collective goods

 The “quality” of democracy  What did Bagehot say?  Accountability  Responsiveness

 What kinds of countries choose presidentialism?

 Moments when demands for strong leadership are overwhelming.  Constitutions written by “strongmen” (De Gaul, Yeltsin).  History of military involvement in politics.  Large and diverse countries?