Central and Eastern Europe Forms of Democracy

Parliamentary versus Presidential Democracy

According to Reiter and Stam (2002), the driving force behind the new wave of democratization stem from the belief that liberal democracy brings with it at least three promises: freedom, prosperity, and peace (1). A major factor prompting the adoption of democratic governments in formerly Communist Central and Eastern European countries involved the dual impact of economics and technology. As communist bloc countries continued to suffer from economic stagnation and as the growth of electronic technologies prevented regimes from controlling public exposure to information, citizen demands for democracy grew. The two main forms of democracy are presidential democracy as practiced in the United States and parliamentary democracy as practiced in Great Britain. The most significant distinction between these two forms of democracy revolves around the structure of power of the executive and legislative branches of government. While the presidential form of democracy separates there powers, the parliamentary form combines them. This and other differences leads to often quite different behavior and results under each form of government. Despite the increasing spread of democracy around the globe, countries in Central and Eastern Europe has selected the parliamentary form of government. This analysis will explore the differences between these two forms of democracy, while illustrating various f

Related Essays

Changes in Europe Between 1870-1939 .... their cultures from agrarian-peasant to more modernized forms. .... East Central Europe in the 19th and 20th .... Eastern Europe 1740-1985: Feudalism to Communism, 2nd ed .... (3413 14 )

Role & Evolvement of NATO .... efforts to cooperate with Russia and other states in Central and Eastern Europe and to .... peace, stability, and well-being in the whole of Europe, which has .... (2769 11 )

Privatization in Eastern Europe & Latin America .... was accomplished in a variety of forms in those .... which was funneled into the Central Bank to .... privatization of economic enterprises in Eastern Europe and Latin .... (5756 23 )

Changes in International Geopolitical Circumstances .... The majority ethnic group forms the political nation and .... Twentieth Century: Democracy and Nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe." Political Quarterly .... (2196 9 )

Geopolitical Balance of Power Geopolitical Bal .... of much older political forms, as Schmitter's .... Through the twentieth century, central government has also been .... with massive influence in Eastern Europe, now has .... (2646 11 )

ctive cabinet Lack of governing (Democracy, 2003, 2-5) The following represent the advantages and disadvantages of the presidential form of democracy: PRESIDENTIAL DEMOCRACY Advantages Can be a unifying national figure Highly identifiable and accountable to voters Greater degree of choice for voters Stability and continuity of policymaking Disadvantages Centralization of authority in one person Inherently majoritarian and exclusive Empirically associated with democratic failure (Democracy, 2003, 5-8) There are a number of different reasons why the more inclusive and more moderate form of parliamentary democracy is favored by Central and Eastern European nations. One of the basic factors driving such a preference is the size and number of competing groups in these countries. The multi-ethnic nature of these countries and the multi-ethnic representation of the parliamentary form of government are more convincing to ethnic and non-majority groups that real inclusion and political representation is valid. The winner-take-all paradigm of presidential democracy is not as appealing to such groups as the representational and proportional mode. Further, in many Western democracies, most notably the United States, socialism is viewe

Category: Foreign - C