Heads of State in Comparative Perspective

Who is Head of State?

• Public official representing their sovereign state in domestic politics and foreign relations.
• Typically monarchs or presidents.
• Consensus: Individual head of state.
• Collective heads of state:
  • Exceptional:
    • San Marino
    • Andorra
    • Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Transitionary:
    • Interwar Estonia
    • Lithuania (1919 interim constitution)
    • 20th-century Communist states

Role of Head of State

• Symbolic and ceremonial:
  • Embody state, traditions, values
  • Formal, notary duties
• Power:
  • Decision-making competences
  • Real political power

Competences vs. Powers

• Powers (formal competences):
  • Set by constitutions
• Power:
  • Set by a number of factors
  • Divergence X convergence of formal and real power/s - Maurice Duverger (1980)

Sources of Power

• Legal (mostly constitutional):
  • Formal competences
  • Mode of election
• Beyond constitution:
  • Partisanship
  • Relationship to parliamentary majority
  • Party system (e.g., fragmentation)
  • Tradition of presidency
  • Charisma and personal ambitions
  • Crisis situation
  • Public attitudes and expectations

Presidential Power

• Formal competences can or cannot influence presidential power depending on:
  • Area:
    • Legislative vs. non-legislative
  • Degree of constraints:
    • Independent, shared, or contingent

Formal Powers: A General Overview

• Legislative:
  • Veto power
  • Referring bills to a constitutional court
  • Addressing parliament
  • Referenda
  • Ratifying international treaties
  • Legislative initiative
• Non-legislative:
  • Government formation process
  • Chairing cabinet meetings
  • Parliamentary dissolution
  • Appointing judges of constitutional court

Mode of Election and Powers

• Parliamentary regimes:
  • Head of state irrelevant for the definition
  • Mode of election irrelevant
• Semi-presidential and presidential:
  • Popular election necessary for definition
  • Formal powers are necessary

How do Heads of State get to Office?

• Hereditary principle
• Election:
  • Popular:
    • Direct (1848 France, 1918/28 POR, GER and FIN 1919, AUS 1929; EST 1934, IRL 1934)
    • Indirect (de facto USA)
  • Parliamentary
  • Special election body (e.g., GER: Federal Convention)
  • Combined:
    • Direct + electoral college (FIN 1988)
    • Direct + parliament (Chile 1925-1973)
    • Electoral college + parliament (de iure USA)
    • Parliamentary + special electoral body (Estonia)

Re-election

• Especially relevant for presidential regimes
• Real practice varies:
  • No limits (Nicaragua, Cyprus, Italy, Ireland)
  • Limitation by convention:
    • USA until 1951
    • AUS, NZ (governor general)
  • Legal limitation:
    • Max. 2 terms (CRO, GER)
    • Max. 2 consecutive terms (ARG, BRA)
    • Unlimited re-election with a break (CHIL, COS, PER)
  • Strict limitation: 1 term (MEX, PAR, COL, ISR)

Impeachment

• Strict rules:
  • Parliamentary model (IRL, LAT, LIT)
  • Plebiscitary (AUS, ICE, SVK)
  • Judicial:
    • Constitutional court (CZE, EST, GER)
    • Special judicial body (FIN, GRE, POL)
• Easy procedure (no confidence vote):
  • Kiribati (directly elected president = PM)
  • Nauru, Botswana, Marshall islands (indirectly elected president)
• Impossible or extremely difficult:
  • Monarchies
  • Examples: Rolandas Paksas (2004), Dilma Rousseff (2016), Park Geun-hye (2017)

Non-Partisan Head of State?

• Strict non-partisan role:
  • monarchies
• Non-partisan role set by convention, but practice is different:
  • France
  • Portugal
  • Czech Republic and „death kisses“
• Non-partisan role required by constitution:
  • Lithuania (art. 83)
  • Romania (art. 84)
• Clear partisan role:
  • USA

General Trends Since 1800

• Democratization of head of state:
  • From monarchies to republics
  • From indirect/parliamentary to direct election (Moldova 2000 vs. 2016)
• Cutting formal competences:
  • FIN, POR, POL, SWE, Benelux countries
  • vs. Liechtenstein
• From „pompous“ to a civilian character

Power Democratization

• Low Power, High Democratization: Large
  • Traditional monarchies
  • Presidential republic
• Medium Power, Medium Democratization:
  • Limited monarchies
  • Semi-presidential republic
• Small Power, Low Democratization:
  • Parliamentary monarchies
  • Parliamentary republic