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Turn-taking in office

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  • Daniel J. Smith

    (Middle Tennessee State University)

Abstract

This paper provides a theoretical explanation for the adoption of turn-taking in office. Turn-taking in office is where two or more individuals are elected to serve individual terms for the same public office, with the exclusive right to exercise the public office rotating among those elected individuals at intervals shorter than the term. Turn-taking enables the benefits of shorter tenures to be realized without incurring, to the same extent, the costs associated with setting an equivalently shortened term and term limit regime. Turn-taking would be most likely to emerge among a factional electorate in order to generate support for shared governance institutions. A case study of three high-level public offices in the Republic of Venice provides evidence of the operation of turn-taking. The tripartite presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina provides a modern-day example of some aspects of office turn-taking in operation.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel J. Smith, 2020. "Turn-taking in office," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 205-226, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:copoec:v:31:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s10602-020-09308-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10602-020-09308-4
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniel J. Smith & George R. Crowley & J. Sebastian Leguizamon, 2021. "Long live the doge? Death as a term limit on Venetian chief executives," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 333-359, September.
    2. Rania Adel Al-Bawwab, 2022. "The zecca mint: a self-enforcing monetary constitution in historic venice," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 1-15, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Public choice; Term limits; Venice; Economic history; Bosnia and herzegovina;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making
    • H1 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government

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