Overview
- Combines both contextual political factors and presidential political background
- Covers up to 53 presidents and 80 presidential terms in six selected countries
- Contributes to theory development in the field of Presidential Studies
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Presidential Politics (PASTPRPO)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
The book explores how weak presidents directly or indirectly elected can still play a crucial role in the political arena. Weak presidents have been distinguished from strong ones by relying on the evaluation of the powers they display according to the constitution. Six Western European countries are analysed: Germany and Italy which present a consistent constitutional design (as weak presidents are elected indirectly), and Austria, Ireland, Finland and Portugal that present inconsistent constitutional design (as weak presidents are elected directly). In contrast to much of the existing comparative works on presidential powers and activism, the book emphasises the role and the use of informal powers beyond that of formal ones. In particular, a definition and a typology of informal powers are provided as well as an empirical investigation on informal presidential activism. The positive outcome of presidential informal interventions are studied by relying on an interactionist approachwhich combines presidency-centred as well as president centred-explanations. The book argues that when dealing with informal presidential activism the opportunity structure matters but presidential public support matters even more.
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Selena Grimaldi is Assistant Professor and teaches Political Science at the Department of Political Science, Communication and International Relations at the University of Macerata, Italy.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Informal Powers of Western European Presidents
Book Subtitle: A Way out of Weakness
Authors: Selena Grimaldi
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Presidential Politics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-33330-9
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-33329-3Published: 15 August 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-33332-3Due: 03 October 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-33330-9Published: 14 August 2023
Series ISSN: 2946-515X
Series E-ISSN: 2946-5168
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXII, 516
Number of Illustrations: 63 b/w illustrations, 2 illustrations in colour
Topics: European Politics, Comparative Politics, Political Leadership