The perils of semi-presidentialism: Confidence in political institutions in contemporary democracies

The degree to which citizens perceive democratic political institutions as trustworthy indicates how well these institutions translate the citizenry’s interests into public policy and how effective and accountable they are seen to be. Low levels of public confidence in political institutions are an indicator of various political problems and are likely to raise concerns over democratic governance. Recent findings that trust in major political institutions has fallen over the last quarter of a century in many democracies have led scholars to examine individual and institutional factors associated with political confidence. Aiming to contribute to this burgeoning literature, this study investigates the impact of semi-presidentialism on public confidence in two major political institutions: the government and parliament. Testing our arguments in 29 democracies through a multilevel analysis, we have found that, compared to presidential and parliamentary systems, semi-presidentialism often generates dual-legitimacy problems, thereby reducing confidence in both government and parliament.

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Centripetal Democratic Governance: A Theory and Global Inquiry

American Political Science Review ◽

10.1017/s0003055405051889 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 99 (4) ◽

pp. 567-581 ◽

Cited By ~ 100

Author(s):

JOHN GERRING ◽

STROM C. THACKER ◽

CAROLA MORENO

Keyword(s):

Economic Policy ◽

Human Development ◽

Political Institutions ◽

Democratic Governance ◽

Constitutional Level ◽

Quality Of Governance ◽

And Performance ◽

The Impact ◽

Dominant Paradigm

Why are some democratic governments more successful than others? What impact do various political institutions have on the quality of governance? This paper develops and tests a new theory of democratic governance. This theory, which we label centripetalism, stands in contrast to the dominant paradigm of decentralism. The centripetal theory of governance argues that democratic institutions work best when they are able to reconcile the twin goals of centralized authority and broad inclusion. At the constitutional level, our theory argues that unitary, parliamentary, and list-PR systems (as opposed to decentralized federal, presidential, and nonproportional ones) help promote both authority and inclusion, and therefore better governance outcomes. We test the theory by examining the impact of centripetalism on eight indicators of governance that range across the areas of state capacity, economic policy and performance, and human development. Results are consistent with the theory and robust to a variety of specifications.

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Trolls Just Want To Have Fun

International Journal of E-Politics ◽

10.4018/ijep.2014100102 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 21-51 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Shefali Virkar

Keyword(s):

Information And Communication Technologies ◽

Citizen Participation ◽

Political Institutions ◽

Body Politic ◽

The Body ◽

Public Confidence ◽

Power Structures ◽

Digital Platforms ◽

Political Processes ◽

The Government

Over the last two decades, public confidence and trust in Government has declined visibly in several Western liberal democracies owing to a distinct lack of opportunities for citizen participation in political processes; and has instead given way instead to disillusionment with current political institutions, actors, and practices. The rise of the Internet as a global communications medium and the advent of digital platforms has opened up huge opportunities and raised new challenges for public institutions and agencies, with digital technology creating new forms of community; empowering citizens and reforming existing power structures in a way that has rendered obsolete or inappropriate many of the tools and processes of traditional democratic politics. Through an analysis of the No. 10 Downing Street ePetitions Initiative based in the United Kingdom, this article seeks to engage with issues related to the innovative use of network technology by Government to involve citizens in policy processes within existing democratic frameworks in order to improve administration, to reform democratic processes, and to renew citizen trust in institutions of governance. In particular, the work seeks to examine whether the application of the new Information and Communication Technologies to participatory democracy in the Government 2.0 era would eventually lead to radical transformations in government functioning, policymaking, and the body politic, or merely to modest, unspectacular political reform and to the emergence of technology-based, obsessive-compulsive pathologies and Internet-based trolling behaviours amongst individuals in society.

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Impacts of Government Policies, Fuel Cell Cost, and Battery Cost on Greenhouse Gas Emission of Light-Duty Vehicles

Volume 4: 18th Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference; 2013 ASME/IEEE International Conference on Mechatronic and Embedded Systems and Applications ◽

10.1115/detc2013-12701 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Swithin S. Razu ◽

Shun Takai

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Greenhouse Gas ◽

Greenhouse Gas Emission ◽

Ghg Emissions ◽

Government Policies ◽

Alternative Fuel Vehicles ◽

Enterprise Model ◽

The Government ◽

The Impact

The aim of this paper is to study the impact of public government policies, fuel cell cost, and battery cost on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the US transportation sector. The model includes a government model and an enterprise model. To examine the effect on GHG emissions that fuel cell and battery cost has, the optimization model includes public policy, fuel cell and battery cost, and a market mix focusing on the GHG effects of four different types of vehicles, 1) gasoline-based 2) gasoline-electric hybrid or alternative-fuel vehicles (AFVs), 3) battery-electric (BEVs) and 4) fuel-cell vehicles (FCVs). The public policies taken into consideration are infrastructure investments for hydrogen fueling stations and subsidies for purchasing AFVs. For each selection of public policy, fuel cell cost and battery cost in the government model, the enterprise model finds the optimum vehicle design that maximizes profit and updates the market mix, from which the government model can estimate GHG emissions. This paper demonstrates the model using FCV design as an illustrative example.

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Public Capital and Innovation

Public Capital, Growth and Welfare ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691155807.003.0005 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Pierre-Richard Agénor

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Public Capital ◽

Spillover Effects ◽

Critical Issue ◽

Government Interventions ◽

Trade Offs ◽

Different Types ◽

Innovation Capacity ◽

The Government ◽

The Impact

This chapter extends the Allais–Samuelson Overlapping Generations models presented in chapters 1 and 2 to study interactions between infrastructure and human capital with R&D activities and growth. It begins by providing some background evidence on these interactions. The model is then presented and solved, and the impact of public policy, including potential trade-offs associated with the provision of infrastructure and other services by the government, is discussed. Again, this is a critical issue; if governments have access to limited resources to cover their expenditure, different types of government interventions may entail (temporary or permanent) trade-offs at the macroeconomic level—even though at the microeconomic or sectoral level these interventions are largely complementary. In addition, different types of government intervention may generate spillover effects on other sectors, which may have an indirect impact on innovation capacity.

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The Impact of Civil Society on Governance in Lesotho

Insight on Africa ◽

10.1177/0975087820909333 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 129-144

Author(s):

Mphonyane Rakhare ◽

Tania Coetzee

Keyword(s):

Public Policy ◽

Civil Society ◽

Political Parties ◽

Good Governance ◽

Democratic Institutions ◽

Independent Media ◽

The Government ◽

The Impact ◽

Democratic Country ◽

Civil Societies

The article acknowledges that Lesotho governance has been characterised by unstable democracy since its attainment of independence in 1966, which makes civil society and other democratic institutions unable to pursue their roles as expected. The proposed solution to overcome predicaments that Lesotho faces was to have active and vibrant democratic institutions such as civil societies, ombudsman, political parties, independent media, independent electoral commissions and the legislative, executive and judiciary. The article aims to bridge the gap by examining published literature and documentary review, which clearly elucidate how good governance can be achieved in a democratic country with the help of active democratic institutions. The article highlights the importance of active and vibrant civil society in governance and public policy. The article concludes by justifying that in deed the government of Lesotho should accept and allow participation of civil society so as to be able to realise its contribution and the important role played by it. Also, civil society in Lesotho must distance themselves from suspicions that they are political parties in disguise.

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The Psychological Impact of Coronavirus on University Students and its Socio-Economic Determinants in Malaysia

INQUIRY The Journal of Health Care Organization Provision and Financing ◽

10.1177/00469580211056217 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 58 ◽

pp. 004695802110562

Author(s):

Muhammad Irfan ◽

Faizah Shahudin ◽

Vincent J. Hooper ◽

Waqar Akram ◽

Rosmaiza B. Abdul Ghani

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

University Students ◽

Family Income ◽

Psychological Impact ◽

Anxiety Level ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Mental Health Support ◽

Health Support ◽

The Government ◽

The Impact

The objective of this article is to examine the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upon university students’ anxiety level and to find the factors associated with the anxiety level in Malaysia. We collected data from 958 students from 16 different universities using an originally designed questionnaire. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale 7-item (GAD-7) was used to estimate the anxiety. Then we applied the ordered logit model to calculate the odds ratios (OR) and factors associated with the anxiety level. We find that 12.3% of students were normal, whereas 30.5% were experiencing mild anxiety, 31.1% moderate anxiety, and 26.1% severe anxiety. Surprisingly, only 37.2% of students were aware of mental health support that was provided by their universities. However, age above 20 years (OR = 1.30), ethnicity Chinese (OR = 1.72), having any other disease (OR = 2.0), decreased family income (OR = 1.71), more time spent on watching COVID-19-related news (OR = 1.52), and infected relative or friends (OR = 1.62) were risk factors for anxiety among students. We conclude that the government of Malaysia should monitor the mental health of the universities’ students more closely and universities should open online mental health support clinics to avoid the adverse impacts of anxiety.

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The Impact of Contact With Suicide-Related Behavior in Prison on Young Offenders

Crisis ◽

10.1027/0227-5910/a000292 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 21-30 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Heidi Hales ◽

Amanda Edmondson ◽

Sophie Davison ◽

Barbara Maughan ◽

Pamela J. Taylor

Keyword(s):

Mental Illness ◽

Psychiatric Morbidity ◽

Young Men ◽

Institutional Factors ◽

Personal Factors ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Validated Questionnaires ◽

Temporal Relationships ◽

The Impact ◽

Male Prisoners

Background: Prison suicide rates are high, and suicide-related behaviors (SRBs) higher, but effects of contact with such behaviors in prison have not previously been examined. Aims: To compare the mental state of young men witnessing a peer’s suicide-related behavior in prison with that of men without such experience, and to test for factors associated with morbidity. Method: Forty-six male prisoners (age 16–21 years) reporting contact with another’s suicide-related behavior in prison were interviewed 6 months after the incident, with validated questionnaires, as were 44 without such contact at least 6 months into their imprisonment. Results: Significantly higher levels of psychiatric morbidity and own suicide-related behaviors were found in the witness group, even after controlling for their higher levels of family mental illness and pre-exposure experience of in-prison bullying. Some personal factors were associated with higher morbidity; incident and institutional factors were not. Conclusions: Findings of heightened vulnerabilities among young men exposed to suicide-related behaviors in prison suggest a need for longitudinal study to clarify temporal relationships and inform strategies to prevent or limit development of morbidity and further harm.

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Consulting the British Public in the Digital Age

Politics and Social Activism ◽

10.4018/978-1-4666-9461-3.ch088 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 1763-1788

Author(s):

Shefali Virkar

Keyword(s):

Political Institutions ◽

Body Politic ◽

Public Institutions ◽

The Body ◽

Public Confidence ◽

Liberal Democracies ◽

Digital Platforms ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Digital Network ◽

The Government

Over the last two decades, public confidence and trust in Government has declined visibly in several liberal democracies; giving way instead to disillusionment with current political institutions, actors, and practices, and rendering obsolete or inappropriate much of traditional democratic politics. Simultaneously, digital technologies have opened up huge opportunities and raised new challenges for public institutions and agencies. Through an analysis of the No. 10 Downing Street ePetitions Initiative based in the United Kingdom, this chapter will engage with issues related to the innovative use of digital network technology by Government to involve citizens in policy processes within existing democratic frameworks. The work examines whether the application of new digital platforms to participatory democracy in the Government 2.0 era leads eventually to radical transformations in government functioning and the body politic, or merely to modest, unspectacular political reform and to the emergence of technology-based pathologies and addictive behaviours amongst individuals in society.

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The Changing Face of Electronic Aggression

Internet and Technology Addiction ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-8900-6.ch024 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 414-434

Author(s):

Shefali Virkar

Keyword(s):

Political Institutions ◽

Body Politic ◽

The Body ◽

Public Confidence ◽

Obsessive Compulsive ◽

Liberal Democracies ◽

Digital Platforms ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

Digital Network ◽

The Government

Over the last two decades, public confidence and trust in Government has declined visibly in several liberal democracies, giving way instead to disillusionment with current political institutions, actors, and practices; rendering obsolete or inappropriate much of traditional democratic politics. Simultaneously, digital technologies have created huge opportunities for public bodies and agencies. In analysing the No. 10 Downing Street ePetitions Initiative based in the United Kingdom, this chapter engages with issues related to the innovative use of digital network technology by Government to involve citizens in policy processes and to buffer national security within existing democratic frameworks. The work examines whether the application of new digital platforms to participatory democracy in the Government 2.0 era leads eventually to radical transformations in government functioning and the body politic, or merely to modest, unspectacular political reform and to the emergence of technology-based obsessive-compulsive pathologies and trolling behaviours amongst individuals in society.

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