Introduction: The Need to Study the ‘Presidential Republic’ as a General Phenomenon of Contemporary Government

Abstract

This book is about a variety of national arrangements and practices, whose common characteristics are to constitute ‘presidential republics’ and which as such have become the main form of government in the contemporary world. It is more realistic to refer to ‘presidential republics’ than to ‘presidential systems’ as what characterises these regimes is, on the one hand, the major importance given to the presidency in a formal document of the State, typically a constitution, and, on the other hand, the key part openly played by the president above all other players in national decision-making, indeed whether that constitutional document is closely applied, ill-applied or scarcely applied.