Prime Ministerial Power in 22 Countries, 1980-2000

This study offers a measure of prime ministerial power to set government policy in 22 countries with established parliamentary democracies. The collection comprises variables relating to the power of prime ministers including an index of prime ministerial power, which consists of a quantitative score of the power of individually named prime ministers in their different terms based on an expert survey conducted in 2001-2003. The expert survey included questions in regard to the prime minister's degree of freedom in selecting cabinet ministers, moving or removing the cabinet ministers, and calling an election when desired. In addition, respondents were queried about the prime minister's ability to influence the cabinet agenda and the policy output of the current government, and the degree of government control over the parliament agenda. Additional variables in the data examined the political and institutional resources available to the prime ministers, of which the following topics were explored: the composition of the cabinet and prime minister's party, rate of government survival, strength of prime minister's party in the parliament, impact of the opposition party on policy, score of leadership influence, policy diversity in government, and government's ideological complexion.

本研究旨在衡量22个具有成熟议会民主制度的国家的政府首脑在制定政策方面的权力。该数据集包含了与首相权力相关的变量，其中包括一个首相权力指数，该指数基于2001-2003年间进行的专家调查，对每位首相在其不同任期内的权力进行了量化评分。专家调查涵盖了关于首相在选拔内阁部长、调动或解职内阁部长以及根据意愿召集选举的自由程度的问题。此外，受访者还被询问首相影响内阁议程和当前政府政策输出的能力，以及政府对议会议程的控制程度。数据集还考察了首相可获得的政经和制度资源，其中包括以下议题：内阁组成和首相所在党派、政府存续率、首相所在党派在议会中的实力、反对党对政策的影响、领导影响力评分、政府政策多样性以及政府的意识形态色彩。