The Presidential Republic - by J Blondel (Paperback)

About the Book

"This study presents the presidential republic as the most widespread form of government in the contemporary world and looks at the countries which pioneered that development.It assesses the development of presidential republics and looks as the variety of national arrangements and practices, whose common characteristics are to constitute 'presidential republics', and the positioning of this regime alongside monarchies and parliamentary republics. It also addresses the part played by presidential leadership in helping to legitimise the regimes of the new countries.Offering an insight into presidential republics across Latin America, Africa and the Ex-soviet union, this text is a seminal work on political regimes and essential reading for all students and scholars with an interest in political institutions and leadership world-wide"--

Book Synopsis

This book is about a variety of national arrangements and practices, whose common characteristics are to constitute 'presidential republics' and which as such have become the main form of government in the contemporary world.

Review Quotes

"Blondel offers a detailed analysis of how and why they have become such a widespread form of government despite having been 'invented' almost by accident in the US federal constitution. Blondel's book is also a profound and convincing discussion of some of the merits of presidential republics in the face of the criticism they have received in the literature ... . There is much to enjoy in Blondel's work on the presidential republic ... ." (Francesco Cavatorta, European Political Science, Vol. 23 (4), 2024)

"In this original and well-organized work, Blondel (European University Institute, Italy) provides a historical and comparative study of presidential systems in the world ... . The book is important for students of Latin America, Africa, and the former Soviet Union because of the inclusion of key chapters, with effective tables, on the evolution of presidentialism. ... a very useful book for both political science and area studies. ... Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, research, and professional collections." (A. Siaroff, Choice, Vol. 53 (7), March, 2016)

'Jean Blondel has an aptitude for picking out important topics and demonstrating not only that there is a lot more to say about them, but also that many more basic facts are available within a comparative context. This weighty book takes the debate on Presidential leadership beyond the Anglo-American context to the neglected cases of Latin America (over 200 years), the former Soviet Union and South East Asia. Just to have a focussed discussion of politics in these countries is invaluable. But also to have well-founded generalizations about Presidential leadership will be a great aid to political analyses at a time when this topic is becoming increasingly important.'

Ian Budge, Professor Emeritus, University of Essex, UK

'This is an insightful encyclopedic examination of the almost infinite range of variations among "Presidential Republics" in the world. I have no doubts that this book will be a central point of reference in further comparative research on presidential governments.'

Ferdinand Müller-Rommel, Chair of Comparative Politics, Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany

'Jean Blondel gives us a vital contribution to our understanding of presidentialism. He rehabilitates the image of this type of politicalregime by showing that the presidential invention by the Americans was an alternative to the monarchy. Hence the importance of legitimacy given to a man, the president elected by the people directly or indirectly.'

Jean-Louis Thiebault, Professor Emeritus, University of Lille, France

About the Author

Jean Blondel is a professorial fellow at the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies, European University Institute, Florence, Italy.