The Different Faces of Presidentialism: Conceptual Debate and Empirical Findings in Eighteen Latin American Countries

Abstract

This article offers a new typology for examining presidentialism, in which
the interaction between the political dimension (institutional and partisan
presidential powers) and contextual dimension (the state of the
economy and presidential approval) determine both the intensity of
presidentialism and the type of political and social relationships derived
from it. Looking at empirical evidence from eighteen Latin American
countries, the article identifi es four ideal types of presidentialism:
imperial, conditioned, minimal, and transitional. Venezuela and Ecuador
are empirical cases of imperial presidentialism while Honduras and
Paraguay are on the threshold between conditioned presidentialism,
and minimal presidentialism.