Semi-Presidentialism under Post-Communism

Abstract

Constitutional engineering has been an important issue in the post-communist world over the last two decades. The process of post-communist transition encouraged the proliferation of different institutional frameworks for exercising political power. Due to this continuing process of experimentation with institutional templates, the region became an important ground for studying the causes and consequences of institutional innovations in the design of political systems. An institutional configuration providing for a popularly elected president and a prime minister and cabinet responsible to the legislature, which is referred to in this volume as a semi-presidential constitutional design, became a common choice among the countries of the region.