Prime Ministerial or Presidential government?

Question 1

What did Michael Foley write in 1993?

Answer 1

‘The Rise of the British Presidency’ 1993

Question 2

Who wrote ‘The Rise of the British Presidency’ in 1993?

Answer 2

Michael Foley

Question 3

Where do the presidents powers originate?

Answer 3

a codified constitution

Question 4

Where does the PM’s power originate?

Answer 4

through the assimilation of the unchecked prerogative powers formally exercised by the monarch

Question 5

What were the 4 characteristics which Foley’s thesis identified justify the notion that the UK is moving towards a presidential system ?

Answer 5

1) Spatial leadership
2) Cult of the outsider
3) Public leadership
4) the personal factor

Question 6

What is Spatial leadership?

Answer 6

the tendency for PM’s to try to create visible distance between themselves and the machinery of government & cabinet

Question 7

What is the cult of the outsider?

Answer 7

This is the tendency for PM’s to characterise themselves as ‘outsiders’ fighting against formal structures and challenging ‘business as usual’

Question 8

How does the public leadership of PM’s justify the notion that the UK is moving towards a presidential system?

Answer 8

the way in which PM’s have sought to appeal directly to the public through the modern mass media circumvents the normal channels