Prime Minister vs Presidentialism
- Created by: bethsmith99
- Created on: 13-04-16 16:15
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- To what extent are Prime Ministers now Presidents in all but name?
- Evidence of growing presidential ism:
- 1. Growth of 'spatial leadership'
- Tendency of Prime Ministers to distance themselves from their parties + governments by presenting themselves as "outsiders" or developing a personal ideological stance e.g Thatcherism
- Michael Foley looked at Ronald Reagan to come up with this
- Tendency of Prime Ministers to distance themselves from their parties + governments by presenting themselves as "outsiders" or developing a personal ideological stance e.g Thatcherism
- 2. Tendency towards populist outreach
- Tendency for PM's to try to 'reach out' directly to the public by claiming to articulate their deepest hopes and fears.
- Growing tendency for PM to speak on whole of the nation over major events, political crises etc. Also reflected in the 'cult of the outsider'
- This is the attempt by PMs to present themselves as non-establishment figures on the side of the ordinary citizen.
- Growing tendency for PM to speak on whole of the nation over major events, political crises etc. Also reflected in the 'cult of the outsider'
- Tendency for PM's to try to 'reach out' directly to the public by claiming to articulate their deepest hopes and fears.
- 3. Personalized election campaigns
- Party leaders become 'brand image' by the mass media of their parties and government, so personality and image have become major determinants of political success or failure.
- 4. Personal Mandates
- Trend for PM's to claim popular authority of the basis of their electoral success. Have become the ideological consciences of their party of government, their chief source of conviction+policy direction.
- 6. Strengthened Cabinet Office
- Size and administrative resources available to Cabinet office have grown.
- Turning it into a small-scale prime ministers department responsible for coordinating the rest of Whitehall.
- Size and administrative resources available to Cabinet office have grown.
- 1. Growth of 'spatial leadership'
- Limitations
- Differences
- 1, PM's work within parliamentary systems of government, or semi-presidential ones.
- Therefore, they govern in and through the parliament + are not encumbered by a constitutional separation of powers.
- 4. As PM's are parliamentary officers they are NOT head of state,so the latter post generally being held by a non-executive president or a constitutional monarch.
- 1, PM's work within parliamentary systems of government, or semi-presidential ones.
- Evidence of growing presidential ism:
- PM's increasingly rely on hand picked political advisors rather than on cabinets, ministers and senior civil servants.
- These advisor's have a personal loyalty to the PM rather than to the party.
- 5. Wider use of special advisors
- Evidence of growing presidential ism:
- 1. Growth of 'spatial leadership'
- Tendency of Prime Ministers to distance themselves from their parties + governments by presenting themselves as "outsiders" or developing a personal ideological stance e.g Thatcherism
- Michael Foley looked at Ronald Reagan to come up with this
- Tendency of Prime Ministers to distance themselves from their parties + governments by presenting themselves as "outsiders" or developing a personal ideological stance e.g Thatcherism
- 2. Tendency towards populist outreach
- Tendency for PM's to try to 'reach out' directly to the public by claiming to articulate their deepest hopes and fears.
- Growing tendency for PM to speak on whole of the nation over major events, political crises etc. Also reflected in the 'cult of the outsider'
- This is the attempt by PMs to present themselves as non-establishment figures on the side of the ordinary citizen.
- Growing tendency for PM to speak on whole of the nation over major events, political crises etc. Also reflected in the 'cult of the outsider'
- Tendency for PM's to try to 'reach out' directly to the public by claiming to articulate their deepest hopes and fears.
- 3. Personalized election campaigns
- Party leaders become 'brand image' by the mass media of their parties and government, so personality and image have become major determinants of political success or failure.
- 4. Personal Mandates
- Trend for PM's to claim popular authority of the basis of their electoral success. Have become the ideological consciences of their party of government, their chief source of conviction+policy direction.
- 6. Strengthened Cabinet Office
- Size and administrative resources available to Cabinet office have grown.
- Turning it into a small-scale prime ministers department responsible for coordinating the rest of Whitehall.
- Size and administrative resources available to Cabinet office have grown.
- 1. Growth of 'spatial leadership'
- Evidence of growing presidential ism:
- the PM resembles the President, but haven't actually become it.
- They can't as the UK has a system of Parliamentary Government rather than Presidential Government.
- E.g does not have constitutional separation between legislature and executive.
- However, PM continues to be appointed as a result of parliamentary elections through the growth of personalized election campaigning, and not by a separate electoral process, which occurs in the USA
- E.g does not have constitutional separation between legislature and executive.
- Limitations
- They can't as the UK has a system of Parliamentary Government rather than Presidential Government.
- 1, PM's work within parliamentary systems of government, or semi-presidential ones.
- Therefore, they govern in and through the parliament + are not encumbered by a constitutional separation of powers.
- 2. PM's usually operate within a formal system of cabinet government.
- Meaning, in theory, executive authority is shared collectively within the cabinet.
- Differences
- 4. As PM's are parliamentary officers they are NOT head of state,so the latter post generally being held by a non-executive president or a constitutional monarch.
- 3. PM's are invested with more modest constitutional powers than presidents
- Therefore, they are typically more reliant upon the exercise of informal powers, especially those linked to their role as party leaders.
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