Potent executives: the electoral strength of prime ministers in Central Eastern Europe
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In: East European Politics, Vol. 35, No. 4, 02.10.2019, p. 517-537.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Potent executives
T2 - the electoral strength of prime ministers in Central Eastern Europe
AU - Berz, Jan Günter
PY - 2019/10/2
Y1 - 2019/10/2
N2 - Prime ministers in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) are commonly perceived to be weaker and less “presidential” than their Western European colleagues. In contrast, I argue that the post-communist legacy of CEE provides a more favourable context for prime ministers to develop a central characteristic of “presidential” prime ministers: a strong personal influence on voting behaviour in parliamentary elections, which provides prime ministers with the opportunity to gain autonomy within their party and cabinet. I theorise that party system instability, as well as the comparatively lower media independence and freedom, gives greater electoral potential to prime ministers in CEE than to their Western European counterparts. Consequently, prime ministers in CEE have a stronger influence on vote choice than West European prime ministers. These hypotheses are investigated using survey data from several waves of the CSES project.
AB - Prime ministers in Central Eastern Europe (CEE) are commonly perceived to be weaker and less “presidential” than their Western European colleagues. In contrast, I argue that the post-communist legacy of CEE provides a more favourable context for prime ministers to develop a central characteristic of “presidential” prime ministers: a strong personal influence on voting behaviour in parliamentary elections, which provides prime ministers with the opportunity to gain autonomy within their party and cabinet. I theorise that party system instability, as well as the comparatively lower media independence and freedom, gives greater electoral potential to prime ministers in CEE than to their Western European counterparts. Consequently, prime ministers in CEE have a stronger influence on vote choice than West European prime ministers. These hypotheses are investigated using survey data from several waves of the CSES project.
KW - Politics
KW - Prime minister
KW - Presidentialisation
KW - performance
KW - voting behaviour
KW - leader effect
KW - Central Eastern Europe
U2 - 10.1080/21599165.2019.1662400
DO - 10.1080/21599165.2019.1662400
M3 - Journal articles
VL - 35
SP - 517
EP - 537
JO - East European Politics
JF - East European Politics
SN - 2159-9165
IS - 4
ER -