A concept’s name can mislead about its actual theoretical balance between poles.

Evidence

The literature on semipresidentialism provides a good example of balance between the two poles. Here features of each pole are used for the gray zone in the middle. So while the name and terminology might suggest imbalance toward the presidential side, in practice it is quite balanced and scholars understand that there is a range where a given regime might be more toward one pole rather than the other, but that the ideal type is a relative balance of the two polar types. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts and Measurement, 1156

Categorization

• DEFINE: Semipresidentialism’s ‘semi-’ prefix suggests a tilt toward presidentialism, but the ideal type is a genuine balance of both poles.