Last week, on the basis of a search of journals, the earliest reference to the term ‘semi-presidential’ that I had found dated back to 1952. This week, using Google Books, I have found earlier ones still as well as lots more early references. My understanding is that Google Books is a reliable source and can be cited.
As far as I can tell, the first reference to the term ‘semi-presidential’ dates back to 1875! It appears in The Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 238, ref. on p. 178. Google Books has neither the full text, nor the title of the piece, nor the author (though I understand that anonymous contributions were not unusual). So, it is difficult to know what the text refers to. This is all they have: “… no Septennate [sic], no squabbles of Right and Left, no semi-royal semi-presidential tour through France …”. MacMahon’s name is then mentioned. I assume this is a reference to President MacMahon of France. So, all in all, this does seem to be a political reference.
The next references are in 1923. However, one is not a political reference. It refers to “a semi-presidential chair” at a Gentleman’s Club! It appears in Edmund Gosse, A history of eighteenth century literature (1660-1780), ref. on p. 291. The other, though, is a political reference: Herbert Arthur Smith, Federalism in North America, 1923, ref. on p. 35. The wording is “… the tentative introduction of semi-presidential government in Great Britain under Mr. Lloyd-George”. This is interesting because Kenneth O. Morgan used this phrase about Lloyd-George in a 1970 article. (See last week’s post). It is also interesting because Google Books has a reference to the term being used about Lloyd-George in Hansard, the record of parliamentary debates in the UK, in 1921. However, they have no further details and the online Hansard search does not generate any such reference.
There are two other pre-1952 references:
James Morgan, Our Presidents, 1930, ref. on p. 50. This is a book on US presidents. The wording is: “Forbidden to earn their living and required to keep up a semi-Presidential state, two of our earlier Presidents were reduced to want …”.
Frederic Austin Ogg, Harold Zink, Modern Foreign Governments, 4th ed., 1949, ref. on p. 506. The whole text is not available on Google Books. So, it is not exactly clear what the reference concerns, though it is in the context of a mention of de Gaulle.
Also, I found another 1953 reference to the term ‘semi-presidential’, as usual referring to the constitution of Eritrea:
A. Arthur Schiller, ‘Eritrea: Constitution and Federation with Ethiopia’, American Journal of Comparative Law, vol. 2, no. 3, 1953, pp. 375-383 (ref. on p. 382).
So, it is clear that the term ‘semi-presidential’ has been around for some time, though its initial use seems entirely behavioural i.e. it does not seem to relate to constitutional structures, more the actual exercise of power. Systematic use of the term seems to begin in 1952-1953 and, here, its use is related to constitutional structures. However, all of the 1952-1953 references relate to just one topic – the Eritrea constitution – and they are all derived from the UN Commissioner’s description of it as semi-presidential. (See previous post).
Aside from Eritrea, the term comes to be used systematically from 1958/1959 with the onset of the Fifth French Republic and then in the early 1960s in relation to the constitutions of some of the newly independent African countries. (See below).
So, the myth, perpetrated by Duverger himself (see previous post), that Hubert Beuve-Méry invented the term in 1959 is false, though he may have helped to popularise it around that time in the context of references to France.
Interestingly, I have also found an earlier reference to the term ‘semi-presidential’ by Duverger! Previously, I had thought the first reference by Duverger came in the 1970 version of his French-language textbook on political institutions. However, Google Books identifies a reference by Duverger to semi-presidential regimes in the 2nd English-language edition of his book, Les partis politiques. The reference is Political Parties, Their Organization and Activity in the Modern State, Methuen, 1959, p. 393. There is also a reference in the third edition (1964) on p. 393. Assuming Duverger’s first reference is in 1959, then it is possible that he was motivated to use the term by Beuve-Méry. The fact is, though, that Beuve-Méry did not invent it.
There are also lots and lots of references prior to what I had thought was the first reference by Duverger in 1970. Here are the ones prior to 1965:
There is a reference by an anonymous writer in The Atlantic magazine, December 1958, vol. 202, issue 6, p. 22, in an article about the 1958 French Constitution and in which reference is made to France’s “semi-presidential regime”.
Gordon Wright, The Reshaping of French Democracy, 1959, (refs. on pps. 48, 50, and 82).
Richard William Barron, Parties and Politics in Modern France, 1959, ref. on p. 152.
Taylor Cole, European Political Systems, 1959 (ref. on p. 207 in relation to France).
Dorothy Maud Pickles, The Fifth French Republic, 1960, refs. on pp. 132 and 142.
Ferdinand Aloys Hermens, The Fifth Republic, 1960, ref. on p. 77.
Alexander Werth, The De Gaulle Revolution, 1960, ref. on p. 251 (again on the 1958 French Constitution.
Guy B. Hathorn, Howard Rae Penniman, Harold Zink, Mark F. Ferber, Government and Politics in the United States, 1961, p. 246, footnote 2 (a ref. to the 1958 French Constitution).
John Gunther, Inside Europe Today, 1961, ref. on p. 83.
Edward Ashcroft, De Gaulle, 1962, ref. on p. 200.
Harry Eckstein, David Ernest Apter, Comparative Politics. A Reader, 1963, ref. on p. 398.
Charles Frederick Strong, Modern Political Constitutions, 1963, ref. on p. 250.
Erwin C. Hargrove, The Tragic Hero in Politics, 1963, ref. on p. 630.
Jasper Yeates Brinton, Federations in the Middle East, 1964, refs. on pp. 5 and 21.
Paul A. Gagnon, France since 1789, 1964, ref. on p. 474.
There are a few other references too, but Google Books does not have sufficient information to cite them.
What this all suggests is that the term ‘semi-presidential’ was in relatively common usage prior to 1970, particularly after 1958/59. However, Duverger still seems to be the first to use it to refer specifically to a system where the president is directly elected and where the PM is responsible to the legislature.