A semi-presidential regime is defined as the situation where a popularly elected fixed-term president exists alongside a prime minister and cabinet who are responsible to parliament. While the study of semi-presidentialism is a relatively new field in political science, the recent upsurge in the number semi-presidential regimes has resulted in increased scholarly attention on how such regimes work. Semi-presidentialism is the dominant regime type in the newly democratized Central and Eastern European countries, and indeed semi-presidentialism is 'now the most prevalent system of government in Europe' (Amorim Neto and Strom, 2006, p. 623. At he same time semi-presidentialism is often discredited in the literature.

This course examines semi-presidentialism from a comparative perspective, with the course consisting of a lecture series (8-10 h) and a seminar where students will present a paper on a theme covered during the lectures.

Compensates all books from VALTA4 or VALTS2b.

Registration by 1 March.