Informal power and short-term consequences: country presidents and political parties in Romania

Gherghina, S. , Tap, P. and Farcas, R. (2023) Informal power and short-term consequences: country presidents and political parties in Romania. Political Studies Review, (doi: 10.1177/14789299231187220) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Country presidents and their political parties have strong connections along partisan lines. However, it remains unclear how this relationship unfolds when country presidents have to be non-partisans and formal ties are not permitted. This article seeks to address this gap in the literature and analyzes how country presidents use informal powers to maintain an influence in the life of their (former) political parties. We use Romania as the most likely case where we would expect such powers to occur and matter, because the country’s constitution bans the country’s president from being a party member once they are elected to public office. We compare the behaviour of the two Romanian country presidents who have each served two complete consecutive terms in office in the post-communist period. Our analysis covers the 2004–2022 period and focuses on the following four dimensions: electing successors, prime ministerial appointments, inclusion in coalition agreements and parties’ electoral performance.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gherghina, Dr Sergiu
• Authors: Gherghina, S., Tap, P., and Farcas, R.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Political Studies Review
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 1478-9299
• ISSN (Online): 1478-9302
• Published Online: 12 August 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Political Studies Review 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License