Yao-Yuan Yeh and Charles Wu’s tour de force revisits and elaborates Juan Linz’s classic argument about the perils of presidentialism by providing nuanced answers to the questions of why and how this institution generates distinct behavioral outcomes and political consequences compared to other institutions. This book not only enriches scholarly debates in the fields of comparative politics and political behavior, but also provides important policy implications for the changing prospects of democracies today.

Yen-Pin Su, National Chengchi University

In Presidentialism, Violence, and the Prospect of Democracy, the authors engage in an important dialogue with scholars of democracy/democratization and constitutional engineering on the importance of the choice of institutional design in political performance. In this rigorous, systematic, and empirical work, Yeh and Wu provide even stronger support to the ever-growing doubts about the efficacy of presidentialism to deliver the desired democratic outcomes, especially for developing presidential democratic countries. This excellent work is a must-read inclusion in course syllabus of postgraduate seminars in contemporary democracies.

Alexander C. Tan, University of Canterbury

In an era of democratic instability, the question of whether presidential systems like the U.S. contribute to domestic political violence and to potential democratic breakdown could not be more timely, yet it is too little asked. This book combines a deep knowledge of the literature with two new ideas about how presidentialism encourages both violent political protest and the onset of regime crises. I learned a great deal from it.

Christopher H. Achen, Princeton University