Juan Linz, presidentialism, and democracy - A critical appraisal

The perils of presidential systems are not as great as Juan Lint has argued. Presidentialism is less oriented toward winner-takes-al results than Westminster parliamentary systems. The superior record of parliamentary systems has rested partly on where they have been implemented, and presidentialism has some advantages that partially offset its drawbacks. These advantages can be maximized by paying careful attention to differences among presidential systems. Finally, switching from presidential to parliamentary systems could exacerbate problems of governability in countries with undisciplined parties. Even if parliamentary government is more conducive to stable democracy, much rests on what kind of parliamentary or presidential system is implemented.