boutons_deux
05-01-2017, 02:12 PM
In fact, “the only presidential democracy with a long history of constitutional continuity is the United States,” wrote Juan José Linz in his seminal essay, “The Perils of Presidentialism,” back in 1990.
Perhaps “American exceptionalism,” then, is less glamorous than it sounds, describing the country’s longstanding resistance to the trap other presidential systems have: ineffectiveness, conflict and a slide into authoritarianism.
Presidential systems, so the argument goes, lead to conflict between the executive and legislative branches, are inflexible because the legislature can’t easily boot the president out, create opposition rather than cooperation between political parties and encourage the election of outsider presidents.
As a result, democracy is more fragile. “The most common scholarly position,” says Professor Robert Elgie from Dublin City University, “is that young democracies would probably do best to avoid presidentialism.”
“The Trump presidency might make for a certain test of U.S. exceptionalism,” says Elgie. “Will the populist, Latin American–style logic of presidentialism apply to the U.S. in ways that it hasn’t before, or will [its] unique political culture temper the presidency, as it has in the past?”
So for the Americans fearing the slide of their presidency into authoritarianism, just know that it’s been a long time coming.
And looking at nearly 250 years of American history, the country seems, for whatever reason, to buck the global trend.
So, says Elgie, “I don’t think we need to be thinking about whether democracy in the U.S. is going to collapse just yet.”
http://www.ozy.com/politics-and-power/american-authoritarianism-a-long-time-coming/75310?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=05012017&variable=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031
Perhaps “American exceptionalism,” then, is less glamorous than it sounds, describing the country’s longstanding resistance to the trap other presidential systems have: ineffectiveness, conflict and a slide into authoritarianism.
Presidential systems, so the argument goes, lead to conflict between the executive and legislative branches, are inflexible because the legislature can’t easily boot the president out, create opposition rather than cooperation between political parties and encourage the election of outsider presidents.
As a result, democracy is more fragile. “The most common scholarly position,” says Professor Robert Elgie from Dublin City University, “is that young democracies would probably do best to avoid presidentialism.”
“The Trump presidency might make for a certain test of U.S. exceptionalism,” says Elgie. “Will the populist, Latin American–style logic of presidentialism apply to the U.S. in ways that it hasn’t before, or will [its] unique political culture temper the presidency, as it has in the past?”
So for the Americans fearing the slide of their presidency into authoritarianism, just know that it’s been a long time coming.
And looking at nearly 250 years of American history, the country seems, for whatever reason, to buck the global trend.
So, says Elgie, “I don’t think we need to be thinking about whether democracy in the U.S. is going to collapse just yet.”
http://www.ozy.com/politics-and-power/american-authoritarianism-a-long-time-coming/75310?utm_source=dd&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=05012017&variable=992d608214b505003aa04bf10a595031