Parliamentarism versus presidentialism in the policy arena

The long-standing debate between advocates of parliamentary and presidentia l government has recently focused on questions of policy making and impleme ntation. Does the policy process in systems with fused powers differ in sys tematic and important ways from separation of powers systems? This review e ssay evaluates six attributes of the policy process-the number of veto play ers, the site of policy negotiations, the provision of collective goods, ac countability, interest group strategies, and delegation to bureaucrats-thro ugh three collections of case studies. Many, but not all, of the apparent r egular differences between parliamentarism and presidentialism break down b ecause of institutional variation within each governmental type.