The political executive returns: re-empowerment and rediscovery

Recent developments across political landscapes have contributed to a re-empowerment of the political executive. The authority of political executives was once largely autonomous and unchecked, but diminished with the development of constitutional and democratic constraints and further curtailed by more pressures on and more competitors to the state. The drivers behind the re-empowerment of political executives are also diverse, stemming from both domestic and international sources. The study of political executives has also experienced a revival; political executives are being rediscovered by students and scholars of politics. This is partly due to the re-empowerment trend, but it is also connected to developments within the research program on political executives. Although the term ‘political executives’ will be understood by scholars and non-scholars alike, there is considerable room for different notions of the exact position and functions of political executives in different types of political regimes. This introductory chapter also discusses the borderlines between the political executive and other actors within the executive: the bureaucracy and the head of state.