Dual exeuctive as a threat to the process of democratization – reality or imagination?

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyse the impact of dual executive with the president elected by popular vote on the democratic transformation of post-communist countries of Europe and Eurasia. For this purpose following hypothesis was investigated: the system of government based on dual executive is a threat to democratization. Accepting that this process consists of three parallel transitions (political, economic and social), the author examined the impact of dual executive on the results of post-communist countries of Europe and Eurasia in two indexes: Revised Polity Score and Economic Freedom of the World. Thanks to this study some conclusions could be drawn pertaining to the impact of the system based on dual executive on the effects of the democratization of selected countries in political and economic areas. This allowed following question to be answered: is it a fact that a system of government based on dual executive with a president elected by popular vote is a threat to democratization?