Information on the thesis

The dissertation reveals historiographical, conceptual, theoretical, methodological, practical and empirical features of the research of semi-presidential system of government in Political Science and deals with institutional, procedural, political and behavioral conditionality of the essence, attributes and typology of semi-presidential system of government in Europe, in particular against the background of such indicators as: governments’ formation, functioning and responsibility; dissolution and composition of parliaments/legislatures; dualism, legitimacy, party affiliation and responsibility of the executive; presidential powers. On this basis, the author recorded institutional, procedural, political and behavioral consequences and influences of semi-presidential system of government in European democratic and autocratic countries, and established and systematized the peculiarities, risks and prospects for operationalization and reformation of semi-presidential system of government in Ukraine.

The Chapter 1 of the dissertation is dedicated to comprehensive and far-reaching analysis and solution of the problem of historiographical, terminological, conceptual, theoretical, methodological, practical and empirical framework of semi-presidentialism, in particular through the prism of its pre-classical, classical and post-classical history and evolution as well as institutional, procedural, political and behavioral attribution. The Chapter 2 revealed theoretical and methodological parameters and peculiarities of the study of semi-presidentialism against the background of variational approaches to the conceptualization, distinctiveness, comparison and typology of the concepts of “form” and “system of government”, and found the relevance of the classical (“Duvergerian”), post-classical/modern (“Post-Duvergerian”) and synthetic approaches to defining, conceptualizing and verifying the criticism and reliability of semi-presidentialism. The Chapter 3 was focused on the categorization and systematization of institutional, procedural, political and behavioral attributes and features of semi-presidentialism in Europe, in particular on the nature, way of election and powers of presidents, the structure of the executive’s legitimacy, the peculiarities of formation, responsibility and types of cabinets, the possibility of dissolution of legislatures. Based on this, the author highlighted the factors and indicators of typology of semi-presidential system of government. In the Chapter 4, the attention was focused on the dichotomy of the European semi-presidentialism on president-parliamentarism and premier-presidentialism, in particular, in the cut of their institutional and procedural attributes, varieties and consequences as well as reasoning, differentiation and positive or negative aspects. The Chapter 5 demonstrated that the powers of political institutions and the peculiarities of inter-institutional relations in the triangle “the head of state–cabinet–parliament” are determined by the “placement” of the above-mentioned institutions in the environment for the distribution of powers and responsibilities of the executive as well as party and personal composition of legislatures. On this basis, the researcher found out the attributes of formation, the reasoning and variants of the actual political and behavioral typology of semi-presidentialism, the patterns and varieties of the unified and divided majority and minority systems and the phase shift of the attributes of semi-presidentialism in Europe. The Chapter 6, based on the correlation between formal and actual powers of political actors in the triangle “the head of state–cabinet–parliament” and in the dual executive, was aimed at analyzing the evolution, logic and structure of the formal and actual institutional, procedural, political and behavioral typology of the European semi-presidentialism, in particular the phenomena and attributes of its highly-presidentialized, parliamentarized (premierized) and balanced types. The Chapter 7 substantiated that semi-presidentialism, including the background of its varieties and other systems of government, carries out various consequences, risks and perspectives, which are incorporated in the differentiated correlation of semi-presidentialism with the types of political regimes, stability, conflicts and effectiveness of inter-institutional relations. Thereby, the author considered institutional, procedural, political and behavioral features, risks and prospects for the operationalization and reformation of semi-presidential system of government in Ukraine.

Accordingly, the dissertation is the first Ukrainian comprehensive, systematic, versatile and complex comparative study of institutional, procedural, political and behavioral aspects of the phenomenon, attributes and varieties of semi-presidentialism in Europe. It brings a comprehensive knowledge of the conceptual, theoretical, methodological, practical and empirical attributes of positioning and institutional, procedural, political and behavioral manifestations of semi-presidentialism in Europe. In addition, the dissertation argues that the European semi-presidentialism should not be positioned as a homogeneous and monolithic phenomenon, but instead should be understood as a heterogeneous and variational system of government.

Keywords: semi-presidentialism, form and system of government, attributes and varieties of semi-presidentialism, president, prime minister, government, parliament, inter-institutional relations, the executive dualism, Europe, Ukraine.