Semi-presidential system

A semi-presidential system, or dual executive system, is a system in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter of the two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliamentary system in that it has an executive president independent of the legislature; and from the presidential system in that the cabinet, although named by the president, is responsible to the legislature, which may force the cabinet to resign through a motion of no confidence.

While the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and Finland (from 1919 to 2000) exemplified early semi-presidential systems, the term "semi-presidential" was first introduced in 1959, in an article by the journalist Hubert Beuve-Méry, and popularized by a 1978 work written by the political scientist Maurice Duverger. Both men intended to describe the French Fifth Republic (established in 1958). The semi-presidential system is distinct from semi-parliamentary systems, where instead of the executive being dual, the legislature is split into two parts, one having the authority to dismiss the cabinet through a motion of no confidence. It is also distinct from the (directly elected) prime-ministerial system that Duverger originally proposed for France, also having a instead of which semi-presidentialism was implemented (also not a dual executive system).