Political Communication in Presidential Regimes in Non-Consolidated Democracies

Abstract

This article attempts to comprehend the nature of political communication in presidential regimes in non-consolidated (or destructured) democracies. To this end, the article uses a comparative framework to distinguish four different political communication systems found in totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, presidential regimes in non-consolidated democracies and in liberal-democratic systems. It is argued that the nature of political communication in presidential systems in non-consolidated democracies is shaped by the powers conferred upon presidents, their opposition to the parliament and the charismatic basis of their authority. On the basis of two cases, the French Fifth Republic under de Gaulle in the 1960s and the Ukraine following its gaining independence in the early 1990s, it is suggested that the model of political communication which prevails in presidential regimes in non-consolidated democracies constitutes an ideal type which is distinct from all other models of political communication.