Separation of powers, opposition strength, and chief executives' strategy
研究多党总统制下立法机构中反对派力量集中度如何影响政府支出和联合政府形成，对关注总统制治理和政党政治的学者有参考价值。
Abstract One of the main questions about presidential democracies is to what extent the legislature influences executive governance. However, less well‐known in this literature is the influence of opposition parties in policy‐making and government formation processes. We argue that, in multiparty presidential governments, more concentrated opposition forces in the legislature, as opposed to more fragmented, lead to higher government spending and greater chances of coalition formation. Facing more united opposition, presidents who are concerned about passing their agenda in the legislature are willing to pay the price to hold their ruling party or governing coalition together in tighter unity. We test this logic by analyzing data on government spending and cabinet formation in all multiparty presidential democracies in East and Southeast Asia and find strong support for it, controlling for several political and economic variables. Our analysis further shows that chief executives' electoral incentives strongly shape their budget spending and cabinet appointments.