Beyond presidentialism and parliamentarism with Steffen Ganghof

Rules of the Game – discussing democratic institutions

Presidentialism and parliamentarism are the two main forms of government used around the world. Yet, what are the characteristics and problems with these systems and may there exist other forms of government that combine the benefits of both systems – ensuring the separation of powers and avoiding executive personalism? One answer is semi-parliamentarism.

With Steffen Ganghof I discuss his recent book “Beyond Presidentialism and Parliamentarism: Democratic Design and the Separation of Powers” in which he studies and examines semi-parliamentarism at length. Steffen Ganghof shares with us what motivated him to write the book and why he thinks political scientists should spend more time on design thinking – exploring alternatives to current democratic systems in use. He elaborates on how semi-parliamentarism assigns the two parliamentary chambers specific functions, making the first chamber to hold government to account, while enabling the second chamber to solve complex legislative questions. This government design really has some intriguing qualities.

Steffen Ganghof is Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Potsdam in Germany. He completed his doctoral thesis at the University Bremen and his habilitation at the University Cologne. He has published in many leading journals such as Comparative Political Studies and the Journal of European Public Policy, among many others, and written two books prior to Beyond Presidentialism and Parliamentarism.

Find the show notes with links to all material discussed here: https://rulesofthegame.blog/beyond-presidentialism-and-parliamentarism/

OPEN ACCESS: the book is available for free as a PDF at https://global.oup.com/academic/product/beyond-presidentialism-and-parliamentarism-9780192897145?cc=ro&lang=en&

Find out more about Steffen Ganghof's work and publications at https://www.uni-potsdam.de/en/vergleichende-politikwissenschaft/team/prof-dr-steffen-ganghof

Follow Steffen Ganghof on Twitter: https://twitter.com/SteffenGanghof

Please enjoy this wide ranging conversation with Steffen Ganghof.