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The essay is divided and published into two parts: each separately assessing the main recent trends in the national and international politics of Equatorial Guinea — roughly between the Covid-19 crisis and May 2023. Part I profiles the current vice president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, widely known by his moniker Teodorín. His dynastic succession seems practically set in stone and quite imminent, given that his father, the president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, is an octogenarian and has recently shown many signs of an already effectively retired. Part I focuses on Teodorín’s populist policy style, the demotion and persecution of contenders, and the punishment of anti-government figures both within and outside the country, which have served to display and consolidate his domestic ascension to power. The combined introduction in part I, and the conclusion in part II outlines the recent shifts across the domestic political, international geopolitical, and economic domains, that have marked and steered Teodorín’s active and seemingly inevitable rise to the presidency of Equatorial Guinea.

The present work studies the political and constitutional problems that have arisen as a result of the relations between the Executive and Legislative Powers. To do this, it studies the first debates on the form of government that arose after independence, as well as the existing constitutional crises, especially when the President of the Republic has not had a parliamentary majority and, on the contrary, has had governance problems due to to the opposition that emerged from Congress. Following this historical review, the current regulation of the question of confidence, the dissolution of Parliament, the presidential vacancy, the impeachment of the President of the Republic and the presidential succession are analyzed, proposing reforms to the constitutional text and interpretations of the Constitution that avoid the abusive and discretionary use of these institutions by the powers of the State. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces the celebration of Constitution Week at Kennesaw State University, featuring events like a faculty panel on presidential succession, voter registration drives, and the unveiling of the restored Declaration of Independence.

The Presidency plays a central role in the functioning of the Czech political system. Among others, the President convenes the first sitting of the Chamber of Deputies after elections and must appoint the Government before it can seek parliamentary confidence. Therefore, the emergency hospitalization of President Miloš Zeman after the 2021 parliamentary election presented politicians with a hitherto unprecedented dilemma. Although a full-scale constitutional crisis was eventually averted, the incident still demonstrated the ambiguity and limitations of constitutional provisions on presidential inability and the temporary transfer of presidential powers in the Czech Republic. This article discusses the respective constitutional provisions and assesses their expedience in light of recent events. Drawing on historical precedents and political debates from the last 30 years, the article proposes options for reform and argues that constitutional crises will remain a real possibility unless political actors agree on at least a minimum of procedural requirements and codify these in organic law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the issue of Putin's presidential successor from a historical perspective of long-term political cycles. Contemporary Russia still shows considerable similarities to the polities, characteristic of old agrarian empires in Asia. Based on the thesis on the origins of the monocentric political system in Russia, our article analyses how the transition of presidential power takes place in Russia, who might be the next president of Russia and whether we will see a new 'time of troubles', or smuta , after Putin's departure. A generational change in Putin's elite cohort will require a specific candidate to ensure a successful transition as a long-term solution. This will involve balancing clashing interests between key informal power networks. In all likelihood, a repeat of a political cycle of empires will happen in Russia again, resulting in a continued consolidation of its monocentric political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a novel instrument for expert evaluation of political initiatives of the Rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This evaluation will create a possibility for assessment of the leadership performers of the Rotating Presidency as a key mechanism for implementation of the EU integration policies. In pursuance of this goal, the article is structured around the three topics. First, the functions of the rotating presidency and the place of the political initiatives among them. Second, the development of an instrument for registration and mediation of the facts that are rich in content. Third, presenting results from the specific, conditional quality measuring of the performance of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU during the first half of 2018 under the undertaken political initiatives and their total expert evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article situates Tzvi Medin's book El sexenio alemanista as an example of the methodological dilemma that arises among scholars of the post-Revolutionary period in Mexico: whether to adopt a systemic perspective or a historic one. Even though our presentation emphasizes the differences between these approaches, Medin's research is appraised as a contribution that recuperates the singular features of the Mexican political experience at the start of the Cold War. This article surveys how Medin's work has served to illuminate the concrete innovations and contributions of Miguel Alemán's presidency (1946-1952), examining his own administration and its medium-term repercussions for political history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When authoritarian incumbent presidents run in elections, they have significant incumbency advantage and almost always win. When incumbents comply with term limits or do not run for other reasons, they tend to designate successors in their stead. However, their chosen successors often lose. Do they lose because they cannot command the same electoral advantage in loyalty, resources and name recognition that incumbents can, or because succession and elections that follow occur in a more liberal environment? The identification of effects of presidential succession is challenging because individual decisions to leave office, or not, depend on existing power relations. Drawing from studies on authoritarian elections and democratization by elections, I propose an explanation why many incumbents are unable to transfer their incumbency advantage to handpicked successors. I rely on the battery of statistical tests including matching and instrumental variables to isolate the effects of succession on competitive authoritarian elections in 1990–2016. Controlling for liberalization that may occur during succession, successors are still more likely to lose; however, running in a hegemonic party regime or having prior political experience and status may mitigate their electoral disadvantage. When successors lose, I find that the executive turnover that follows often leads to further liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Congressional Oversight and Presidential Subpoenas between Trump v. Mazars USA, LLP. Topics include examines that the Court held that congressional subpoenas of the President's private papers implicate special separation of powers concerns that must be weighed in evaluating the subpoenas' validity.

The article discusses the issue of constitutional irrelevancy by examining the parts or sentences skipped by legislators during the reading out loud activity in the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2011, in which each lawmaker read a part of the U.S. Constitution. Event organizer, Congressman Bob Goodlatte said the reading will inspire Americans to read the constitution. Also mentioned are the skipped parts like the paragraph on presidential succession and electoral system.

The article explores the status of democracy in Nigeria under the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress. It reviews the credibility of the democratic process since the transfer of power to Buhari from his predecessor, President Goodluck Jonathan. Under the Buhari administration, Nigeria has been considered as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The role of civil society in the country's democratic process is discussed.

The article discusses the transfer of power from President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to President Félix Tshisekedi following his victory in the election on December 30, 2018. The succession was achieved after Kabila agreed to step down after nearly two decades in power. The rise of social movements against Kabila has been attributed to the lack of progress on economic development, democracy and peace under his administration.

How likely is it that President Trump will not serve his full term? Donald Trump ran a highly contentious political campaign; many of his messages could be identified as xenophobic, misogynist or racist. After becoming the 45th president of the United States, many political observers expected his initial actions would be less controversial, thus setting a more compromising tone for his government. However, this has not happened. President Trump signed more than sixty executive orders, which rolled back on some of the most prominent government actions implemented by the Obama administration. President Trump is also spearheading changes aimed at modifying the economic and geopolitical landscape by loosening Wall Street and environmental regulations, altering the tax code, banning immigration from several Muslim-majority countries and continuing plans to build a border wall. In addition, the Administration has become mired in a scandal regarding its potential links between the presidential campaign and the Russian government. According to Section 4 of the 25th amendment of the Constitution of the United States, if the Vice President and a simple majority of the Cabinet deem the President unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President becomes Acting President. Another possible scenario could lead to impeachment based on conflict of interests or misuse of Presidential power. Again, the result of successful impeachment would be Mike Pence assuming the residency. Our paper analyzes various possible scenarios regarding prospective challenges to the continuation of President Trump in office. The purpose of the paper is to assess the relative likelihood of different paths to power for Mike Pence.

The author addresses presidential succession and the impeachment provisions of the U.S. Constitution. Topics discussed include significant ambiguities and gaps in the Succession Clause of the Constitution, debate on which officials Congress can appoint as presidential successors, and sections of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment, crafted by the Congress under the leadership of Senator Birch Bayh.

After Vice-President Temer supported the impeachment of President Rousseff in Brazil, the vice presidency has (again) received criticism in Latin America. The newly raised criticism echoes a long-standing critique of the vice presidency as a source of conflict and instability. This article, however, argues that the criticism suffers from a misconception and that it is confounded with three problems of presidential succession inherent to presidential systems: the problems of loyalty, legitimacy and presidential substitution. Through a comparative and historical analysis based on a new database on rules of succession in Latin America, the article discusses how these problems have been met and attempted resolved through reforming the rules of succession, and how the recent presidential interruptions in the region present a new problem of presidential substitution that challenges the extent to which the rules of presidential substitution are fit to resolve presidential crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Constitutional and statutory provisions regarding U.S. Presidential succession, with focus on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and its potential application. Topics covered include the Constitutional provisions for presidential succession, the presidential succession acts that Congress has passed, and Constitutional amendments on presidential succession.

This selective bibliography is intended to assist legal researchers in researching the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.1 In addition to Article II, Clause 6, and the Presidential Succession Act of 1947,2 the 25th Amendment is part of the fundamental law governing presidential succession in the United States. This bibliography compiles books, book chapters, and law review articles to facilitate legal research in this area.3 When ratified in 1967, the 25th Amendment culminated nearly 175 years of Congressional effort to resolve Constitutional vagueness on certain procedure involving the temporary or permanent incapacitation of the president. While the 25th amendment did not fundamentally change the constitutional procedure of presidential succession, it did significantly clarify areas of uncertainty with the purpose of complying with the apparent intentions of the Framers of the Constitution on presidential succession.4 Since Donald Trump became president in January 2017, there has been an ongoing public debate over his provocative rhetoric and actions, and his reportedly dysfunctional presidency. In 2017, for example, questions arose about his emotional stability when he apparently tweeted threatening language involving nuclear weapons in response to statements made by Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea.5 In addition, significant concerns arose after an anonymous letter to the editor appeared in the New York Times, allegedly sent by a high-ranking administration official, stating he or she was part part of the "resistance" within the White House, which was attempting to block some of President Trump's allegedly more dangerous actions. The author reported that there was a group of similarly situated White House officials who believe that the president was unfit for office and that there was an effort to remove Trump under the Section 4 of the 25th Amendment.6 More recently, former FBI Director Andrew McCabe revealed that Justice Department officials had sought to discuss the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment with cabinet officials. Because of the critical importance of the issues involved for the nation today, this article includes sources discussing when the 25th Amendment can be invoked and whether Donald Trump's pattern of statements and behavior could give cause to invoke the 25th Amendment. As current events suggest, the issue of whether Trump should be removed under the 25th Amendment is likely to remain an issue of public concern for the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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