The Politics of Presidential Term Limits

Presidential term limits restrict the maximum length of time that presidents can serve in office. They stipulate the length of term the presidents can serve between elections and the number of terms that presidents are permitted to serve. While comparative scholarship has long studied important institutions such presidentialism vs. parliamentarism and the effects of different electoral systems, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the role and effects of presidential term limits. Yet presidential term limits and term lengths are one of the most fundamental institutions of democracy. By ensuring compulsory rotation in office, they are at the heart of a democratic dilemma. What is the appropriate trade-off between allowing the unrestricted selection of candidates at presidential elections vs. restricting selection procedures to prevent the possibility of dictatorial takeover by presidents who are unwilling to step down? In the context of a long and on-going history of changes to presidential term limits and the many and varied ways in which term limits have been both applied and avoided, this book explains the factors behind the introduction, stability, abolition, and avoidance of presidential term limits, as well as the consequences of changes to presidential term limits, and it does so in the context of non-democracies, third-wave countries, and consolidated democracies. It includes comparative, theoretical, and practitioner-oriented chapters, as well as detailed country case studies of presidential term limits across the world and over time. Contents List of Figures List of Tables List of Contributors 1. Presidential Term Limits • Alexander Baturo and Robert Elgie Section I 2. Theorizing Presidential Rotation • Peter Stone 3. One Size Does Not Fit All: The Provision and Interpretation of Presidential Term Limits • Tom Ginsburg and Zachary Elkins 4. Term Limits and the Unconstitutional Constitutional Amendment Doctrine: Lessons from Latin America • David Landau, Yaniv Roznai, and Rosalind Dixon 5. Continuismo in Comparison: Avoidance, Extension, and Removal of Presidential Term Limits • Alexander Baturo Section II 6. Presidential Term Limits in Latin America: c.1820–1985 • Leiv Marsteintredet 7. Presidential Term Limits as a Credible-Commitment Mechanism: The Case of Brazil’s Military Regime • Octavio Amorim Neto and Igor P. Acácio 8. The Politics of Presidential Term Limits in Mexico • Joseph L. Klesner 9. Presidential Term Limits in Nicaragua • David Close 10. The Politics of Presidential Term Limits in Tunisia • Alessandra Bonci and Francesco Cavatorta 11. Presidential Term Limits in Togo: Electoral Accountability Postponed • John R. Heilbrunn 12. Presidential Terms in Kazakhstan: Less is More? • Dmitry Nurumov and Vasil Vashchanka 13. China: Limiting and Regularizing Top Political Power • Zhengxu Wang and Anastas Vangeli 14. Term Limits and Succession in Dictatorships • Natasha Ezrow Section III 15. The Politics of Presidential Term Limits in Malawi • Peter VonDoepp 16. Should I Stay or Should I Go? Term Limits, Elections, and Political Change in Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia • Nic Cheeseman 17. Senegal (1970–2016): Presidential Term Limit Reforms Never Come Alone • Charlotte Heyl 18. Presidential Term Limits in Burkina Faso • Sophia Moestrup 19. The Uses and Abuses of Presidential Term Limits in Russian Politics • Paul Chaisty Section IV 20. The Politics of Presidential Term Limits in the United States • Michael J. Korzi 21. Presidential Term Limits in Europe • Robert Elgie 22. Term Limits in South Korea: Promises and Perils • Fiona Yap 23. The Politics of Presidential Term Limits in Argentina • Mariana Llanos 24. The Politics of Presidential Term Limits in Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras • Juan Muñoz-Portillo and Ilka Treminio 25. The Politics of Presidential Term Limits in Latin America: From Re-democratization to Today • José Antonio Cheibub and Alejandro Medina 26. Presidential Term Limits in Bolivia • David Doyle Section V 27. Presidential Term Limits and the International Community • Christina Murray, Eric Alston, and Micha Wiebusch 28. Effects of Presidential Term Limits • Akisato Suzuki 29. What Have We Learned about Presidential Term Limits? • Alexander Baturo and Robert Elgie Index "Presidential term limits are one of the most important institutions in presidentialism. They are at the center of contemporary and historical debates and political battles between incumbent presidents seeking additional terms and their political opponents warning against democratic backsliding and the dangers of personalism. Bringing the team of country experts, comparativists, theorists, constitutional lawyers, and policy practitioners together, The Politics of Presidential Term Limits is a book that aims to provide a one-stop source for the comprehensive study of this topic. It includes theory and survey chapters that explain presidential term limits as an idea, constitutional norm, and an institution; country and comparative chapters including historical, intra-regime, and comparative regional studies, chapters that examine the effects of term limits as well as studies from the perspective of on-the-ground international constitutional builders and that ask what difference do term limits make" (Provided by publisher) Presidential term limits are one of the most important institutions in presidentialism. They are at the center of contemporary and historical debates and political battles between incumbent presidents seeking additional terms and their political opponents warning against democratic backsliding and the dangers of personalism. Bringing the team of country experts, comparativists, theorists, constitutional lawyers, and policy practitioners together, __The Politics of Presidential Term Limits__ is a book that aims to provide a one-stop source for the comprehensive study of this topic. It includes theory and survey chapters that explain presidential term limits as an idea, constitutional norm, and an institution; country and comparative chapters including historical, intra-regime, and comparative regional studies, chapters that examine the effects of term limits as well as studies from the perspective of on-the-ground international constitutional builders and that ask what difference do term limits make. This book examines the politics of presidential term limits. It looks at the theory and practice of term limits, the experience of term-limit avoidance worldwide, and the consequences of presidential term limits in all forms of regimes. This work examines the politics of presidential term limits. It looks at the theory and practice of term limits, the experience of term-limit avoidance worldwide, and the consequences of presidential term limits in all forms of regimes