The Power Circuit
Evidence desk
Created by Yoav Duman. Institutional rules checked 2026-10-29. Country incidents are hypothetical applications of the cited rules. Port Meridian and its bargaining slots are fictional.
This game follows the minimal institutional definition of semi-presidentialism associated with Robert Elgie. Some other classifications require substantial presidential power. These are executive-legislative relationships, not measures of democracy, federalism, party count, or electoral proportionality.
- Robert Elgie, Semi-Presidentialism: Sub-Types and Democratic Performance (2011)
https://academic.oup.com/book/2211
Minimal definition; premier-presidential versus president-parliamentary distinction. - Robert Elgie (ed.), Semi-Presidentialism in Europe (1999)
https://academic.oup.com/book/3194
Minimal definition includes figurehead presidents; formal institutional family differs from practice. - UK Parliament: What is a hung Parliament?
https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/general/hung-parliament/
Coalition and minority formation; largest party need not govern. - House of Commons Library: Commanding confidence (29 June 2026)
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10915/
Confidence, ordinary defeats, resignation or request for dissolution. - Germany: Basic Law, Articles 63, 67, 68
https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/englisch_gg/englisch_gg.html
Chancellor election; Article 67 constructive no confidence; Article 68 discretionary dissolution within 21 days and lapse on majority election of another Chancellor.
Articles 63, 67 and 68 independently checked on 29 October 2026 against official German clause text/search results. Some direct English-page requests timed out; the Federal Returning Officer’s official early-election guidance, updated 23 July 2026, corroborates Article 68’s successor-lapse rule. - South Africa: Constitution, Chapter 5, sections 83, 86, 87, 89, 102
https://www.justice.gov.za/constitution/chp05.html
Assembly election of President; combined head-of-state and executive roles; section 89 removal; section 102 presidential and Cabinet no-confidence variants. - US National Archives: Legal provisions relevant to the Electoral College process
https://www.archives.gov/electoral-college/provisions
Separate presidential electoral origin; four-year term; contingent election qualifications. - Congressional Research Service: Impeachment and the Constitution
https://www.congress.gov/crs_external_products/R/PDF/R46013/R46013.2.pdf
House impeachment and Senate conviction are distinct proceedings; removal is not a confidence vote. - Brazilian Senate: Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Articles 76, 77, 82, 84, 85, 86
https://legis.senado.gov.br/norma/579494/publicacao/33296461
Presidential origin, term, ministerial appointments and constitutional responsibility. - Chile, National Congress Library: Current Constitution, Articles 24-26
https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=242302
Presidential head of state/executive, four-year term and direct election.
Relevant Articles 24–26 were directly read in the official consolidated HTML on 29 October 2026; this retrieval succeeded after earlier rendering failures. - Chile, National Congress Library: Constitution, Article 32(7)
https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=242302
President appoints/removes ministers at will.
Article 32(7) was directly read in the official consolidated HTML on 29 October 2026. - Chamber of Deputies, Chile: Constitutional accusation analysis
https://www.camara.cl/verDoc.aspx?prmID=281466&prmTipo=DOCUMENTO_COMISION
Constitutional accusation differs from ordinary political confidence; use the current constitutional text for the controlling provisions.
An earlier check used official search-index excerpts after this document returned 403. Articles 52–53 were directly read on 29 October 2026 at the official consolidated Constitution linked under cl-constitutional-process. - France, Élysée: Constitution of 4 October 1958, Articles 6, 8, 20, 49, 50
https://www.elysee.fr/en/french-presidency/constitution-of-4-october-1958
Elected President; appointment and resignation; government responsibility and no confidence. - Portuguese Parliament: Constitution, Articles 121, 187, 190, 194, 195
https://www.parlamento.pt/sites/EN/Parliament/Documents/Constitution7th.pdf
Direct presidential election and PM appointment; Article 195(1)(f) all-member no-confidence majority; Article 195(2) constrained presidential Government removal. - Taiwan, Office of the President: Additional Articles of the Constitution, Articles 2-3
https://english.president.gov.tw/Page/95
Direct presidential election; premier appointment/removal orders; no legislative confirmation; binding no confidence; separate resignation and dissolution deadlines; conditional dissolution. - US National Archives: Constitution, Articles I and II
https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution-transcript
House impeachment, Senate trial and two-thirds conviction, removal following conviction. - Chile National Congress Library: Constitution, Articles 52-53
https://www.bcn.cl/leychile/navegar?idNorma=242302
Ordinary Chamber critical agreements do not remove ministers; constitutional accusation and Senate judgment can remove the accused under separate procedures and thresholds.
Articles 52(1)(a), 52(2) and 53(1) were directly read in the official consolidated HTML on 29 October 2026, including the different roles of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate. - Tsebelis (1995), Veto Players
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123400007225
Conditional institutional tradeoffs, coalition bargaining and comparative research design. - Cheibub, Przeworski & Saiegh (2004), Government Coalitions
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123404000195
Conditional institutional tradeoffs, coalition bargaining and comparative research design. - UK Parliament: Scrutiny
https://www.parliament.uk/about/how/role/scrutiny/
Conditional institutional tradeoffs, coalition bargaining and comparative research design.
Research is a next step
Selected country examples do not identify an institutional causal effect. Compare conditions, define outcomes and consider alternative explanations. A hypothesis from play is a proposition to investigate.