On the Emergence of Parliamentary Government: The Role of Private Information

The views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis or the Federal Reserve System. Many people believe that during the last 15 or 20 years, countries around the world have tended to move toward parliamentary government. Dictatorial governments in various countries of southern Europe, Latin America, and Asia have been replaced, mostly through negotiated change rather than outright revolution, by governments which have at least nascent parliamentary institutions. Why such a widespread change in the form of government should occur throughout the world during a span of time so relatively short is something of a mystery. Here, I consider to what extent the change reflects a shift of the balance of power from the beneficiaries to the victims of dictatorship and to what extent it reflects an adaptation that is to the mutual advantage of both sides.