Is this the first reference to semi-presidentialism? (3)

In a couple of previous posts (see below), I reported on the first ever references to the term ‘semi-presidentialism’ or ‘semi-presidential regime’.

To recap, the usual wisdom is that Hubert Beuve-Méry, the then editor of Le Monde, first coined the phrase ‘semi-presidential’ in 1959. Duverger then used the term in its academic sense in the 11th edition of his textbook Institutions Politiques in 1970.

However, previously, I reported finding an article by Jean-François Bayart in the Revue française de science politique, 1970, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 681-718, where there is a reference to Cameroon being ‘semi-presidential’. Then, in the Revue Juridique et Politique d’Outre-Mer, vol. 14, no. 3, 1960, p. 318, I found a reference by Bertrand Mounier to the system in Madagascar as a ‘semi-presidential democracy’.

In terms of an update, it is Duverger himself who says that Beuve-Méry first coined the term and Duverger implies that Beuve-Méry did so in print. Duverger makes this comment in his 1986 edited book Les régimes semi-présidentiels. However, I have scoured the newspaper articles by Beuve-Méry to which Duverger seems to refer and there is no mention of the term ‘semi-presidential’. Therefore, either Duverger’s reference is to another article that I do not have, or I assume that the term was used conversationally but Beuve-Méry never actually put it in print. (In 1959 Duverger was a regular contributor to Le Monde and the two undoubtedly met often and talked about the new regime in France).

Moreover, in a personal communication, Jean Francois Leguil-Bayart confirms that he did not meet with Duverger prior to using the term himself in 1970 and that it was most likely a common phrase amongst his student cohort.

So, it seems as if the term ‘semi-presidential’ was doing the rounds informally prior to 1970. Moreover, it also seems to be the case that M. Mounier can still claim to be the first person to have used the term in print in 1960.

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