Semi-presidentialism: what it is, advantages and characteristics

We explain what semi-presidentialism is, how it is classified and its structure. In addition, we explain what its general characteristics and advantages are.

What is semi-presidentialism?

Semi-presidentialism is known as granting the head of state to more than one person. These governments generally have as heads of state a president and a prime minister, together with a cabinet. The latter two are responsible to the legislature, which can vote to remove them from office.

Is about a model of democratic government where the popular vote can still elect the president of the republic. However, both he and his ministerial team are subject to political evaluation by the legislative branch or parliament.

It is also known as a mixed system, since it is located in the middle between presidential systems and parliamentary systems. It is called a two-headed republicsince its leadership falls on at least two people.

See also: English Monarchy

It is not presidentialism

Presidential systems are those that They hand over political power to a single figure: the president.

This figure can appoint or dismiss ministersvice presidents and other members of the executive, without any internal checks and balances.

Therefore, its power is balanced only by the legislative and judicial powers.

On the contrary, In the semi-presidential system there is also a prime minister and a cabinet with whom the president must share the executive.

It is not parliamentarism

In parliamentary systems There is a president stripped of real executive powersThese powers are usually concentrated in the Prime Minister, thus distinguishing between the head of state and the head of government.

This type of government is often found In republics that originate from a parliamentary monarchyThis is because in the previous monarchy, parliament ended up being more important than the monarch.

In that sense, Parliament is more the seat of real power than the presidentunlike presidential and semi-presidential systems.

Types of semi-presidentialism

There are two forms of semi-presidentialism, depending on its structure:

• Premier-presidential system. The prime minister and the cabinet are exclusively responsible to the legislature or parliament. The president is elected by popular vote and appoints the prime minister and the cabinet, who can be dismissed by parliament by a vote of no confidence.
• President-parliamentary system. Both the prime minister and the cabinet are chosen by the president (who is himself elected by popular vote), but they are doubly responsible to parliament and the president himself, which means there is a double option of removing them from power.

Power structure

The separation of legislative and executive powers is an important issue within the power structure of a semi-presidential system.

The president is obliged to govern together with the majority of parliament.which often leads to legislators close to the president or his party being elected as prime minister or minister of government. This gives rise to three structural models:

• Rigid separation due to resignation of parliamentarians. In such cases, a legislator elected to a ministerial post (prime minister or cabinet member) must resign from his or her parliamentary seat and may not return to it until the next legislative session. This measure is intended to prevent party politics, the predominance of certain political parties in the State, as occurs in parliamentary systems.
• Rigid separation by replacement of parliamentarians. In such cases, the parliamentarian elected to ministerial posts must be temporarily replaced by another, and may return to exercising parliamentary office if he or she has no ties to the executive branch.
• Partial separation from parliamentary ministers. In these cases, the coexistence of the legislature and the executive is not prohibited in the case of parliamentarians assuming ministerial functions, although cabinet members are generally not chosen from among members of parliament. However, this allows for greater levels of partisan dominance of both the executive and the legislature.

History of semi-presidentialism

The first case of a two-headed republic in history took place in the Roman RepublicPower was controlled by two consuls with equal authority and equal veto power if one of them made a decision without consulting the other.

Taking this precedent as an example, in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century (1919) an attempt was made to create a political system that would allow for a balance between the powers of parliament and the president. The result was The first modern semi-presidential republic: the Weimar Republic.

Although this republic soon failed and gave ground to the fascist model of Hitler’s Nazism, its model It was replicated in France under Charles De Gaulle. His example later inspired numerous republics throughout the world.

The appeal of this model is that it offers a way to control the excesses of executive power in the hands of a single president.

Disadvantages of semi-presidentialism

The main disadvantage of this model is the ease with which A divided parliament reaches a state of conflict and stalemateIn these cases, the only solution is to change the executive branch. Thus, the political functioning of the republic can hinder and lengthen the processes of the executive branch.

The exception is those cases where the dominant party and the president’s party are the same. Then procedural agility is produced which, on the other hand, also has its drawbacks, since the separation of powers that the system should defend becomes weaker in these cases.

Advantages of semi-presidentialism

Compared to presidentialism, the advantages of this type of model are several. Firstly, It is a huge counterweight to the executivewhich is quite prevented from carrying out maneuvers that would grant it total power. In this sense, the model defends democratic balance much more.

On the other hand, compared to parliamentarism, it offers a mixed and intermediate path that still gives power to the popular vote faith already placed in the presidential election.

Division of faculties

One of the dilemmas of this model lies in the distribution of presidential powers and those of the Prime Minister. In this sense, they are usually established according to two possibilities:

• Division by convention. The distribution of powers is sometimes determined by political agreement, that is, by mutual consensus between the President and the Prime Minister, which allows for their reformulation in each relevant case.
• Constitutional division. In this case, the distribution of powers is explicitly detailed in the political Constitution or in the legislation of the State, according to the interests and decisions that have been taken in its construction.

Historical examples of semi-presidentialism

The first historical example of this system was the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) in Germany. It was later also observed in the French Republic under De Gaulle (1959-1969), also called the French Fifth Republic. In this case, semi-presidentialism remains the current model.

Countries with semi-presidential system

Today the following countries have a semi-presidential system:

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