How to Craft a Presidential Tool: Personalisation, Party Organisation and Lawmaking

It is expected that presidents would rely on their own parties to advance their policy agenda. But parties are not unitary actors; they contain policy differences that can set back presidents’ plans. What needs to happen inside a party to make it an effective presidential tool? I propose that internal rules that concentrate decision-making power can help overcome preference heterogeneity and support a president-led policy agenda. Focusing on Rafael Correa's time in power (2007–2017), I use a mixed-method strategy to trace a process of organisational changes. This process shaped how the party dealt with policy differences and helped the president accelerate the approval of his agenda and preserve his preferred policy content. These findings show how a party can go through a process of personalisation and the conditions under which a ruling party can become an effective presidential tool.