Constitutional stability among post-Soviet countries is challenged by recurring institutional conflict, autocratic presidents, weak party systems, frequent changes to the constitution, and external aggression from Russia. Semi-presidentialism, where a directly elected president shares executive power with a prime minister, is currently the model in 20 countries in Eastern Europe. Several post-Soviet countries have recently shifted from a president-parliamentary to a premier-presidential form of semi-presidentialism, however, where
weaker presidential powers are combined with a government anchored in parliament. The overall purpose of this project is to understand why and under what conditions post-Soviet countries have reduced presidential powers, and what implications these constitutional shifts have had on party organization and behavior. The project combines statistical analyses across the post-Soviet semi-presidential countries with a focused comparison of Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine – three countries that, against the Kremlin's preferences, represent constitutional change away from a president-dominated system. We draw on a combination of expert interviews on the one hand, and on a palette of country-specific data and written material on the other. The project contributes to new empirical data and theoretical understanding of the interplay between constitutional change and party politics in a context of fragile democratization and Russia’s external pressure.
Keywords
constitution, Eastern Europe, political party, post-Soviet, semi-presidentialism, constitution, Eastern Europe, political party, post-Soviet, semi-presidentialism
Research Profile
Other
Subject
Political Science
Financiers
Östersjöstiftelsen
To improve our users’ experience, we use cookies on the du.se website for analytical purposes. By choosing to surf our website, you also accept the use of cookies.
