Presidentialization in the Antipodes? The Australian Case Examined

While much has been written about the presidentialization of politics across Europe very little attention has been given to the Australian case. Considering that Australia has very strong parties and prime ministers who have institutional advantages that far surpass anything the British prime minister, for example has at their disposal, a systematic analysis of presidentialization is required to determine whether Australian politics has become presidentialized. This paper will argue that within the institutional limits imposed by a majoritarian parliamentary system, the Australian case shows a long term trend towards presidentialization as defined by Poguntke and Webb (2005). However, this is not uniform and unproblematic as Australia’s distinctive institutional architecture means that the most compelling evidence of presidentialization is in how leaders interact with their parties rather than in how they actually govern.