Sept. 12, 2023
Lee Drutman and Scott Mainwaring published a piece on proportional representation and presidentialism for Democracy Journal.
How would presidentialism work with a multiparty Congress? Here we return to our first point: The new scholarly consensus is that multiparty presidentialism can work just fine. Presidents build coalitions in many ways, and they frequently succeed in passing their programs. As long as moderate parties are well represented in the legislature, presidents (except for those with strong illiberal tendencies) typically move toward the policy middle, often showing remarkable flexibility in response to changing political winds—sometimes to the frustration of their parties.
In multiparty systems, presidents have various ways to build majorities. The most common and effective way is through multiparty cabinets. To help facilitate a governing coalition in the legislature, presidents typically allocate positions and portfolios in their cabinet among the parties, often in proportion to party strength. Many presidents can hold together multiparty coalitions across the executive and legislative branches, which allows them to pass preferred policy. Not surprisingly, cabinets form more easily when coalitions are smaller and have more ideological overlap.
But even if a president can’t build a majority, a minority government (i.e., one that does not have a majority in both chambers of Congress) does not necessarily lead to immobilism. Instead, presidents bargain with opposing parties on an ad hoc basis. In some ways, this can be more responsive to public sentiment. A minority government that builds majority coalitions on an issue-by-issue basis is most likely to reflect majority sentiment on every issue. Of course, it can also lead to deadlock. Deadlock is most common under highly polarized party systems. Indeed, under divided government, it is now the norm in the United States—which is, of course, the problem.
Pre-electoral coalitions are common in multiparty presidential democracies, and they affect how cabinet posts are allocated. Parties that endorse another party’s candidate offer organizational infrastructure, civil society connections, and access to campaign funds. In exchange, they get policy concessions and coalition appointments, including at the cabinet level.