Taming the presidents? Exploring the links between presidential activism, policy-making capacity, and regime legitimacy

The project examines the links between presidential activism, policy-making capacity, and regime legitimacy. Drawing on top-level interviews, data on presidential behaviour, expert survey, and public opinion surveys, it asks what are the consequences of presidential activism for policy-making and the stability and legitimacy of political regimes. The countries under investigation include Finland, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, and Romania. Institutionalized coordination mechanisms between the two executives should result in lower intra-executive conflict and thus higher policy-making capacity which in turn should produce stronger public trust in political institutions. Considering the challenges facing semi-presidential countries, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, the lessons drawn from this project also benefit practitioners involved in questions of institutional design.