Coalition Governance in Western Europe

Coalition government is the most frequent form of government in Western Europe, but we have relatively little systematic knowledge about how that form of government has developed in recent decades. This book studies such governments, covering the full life-cycle of coalitions from the formation of party alliances before elections to coalition formation after elections (or in the sitting parliament), portfolio distribution among the coalition parties, governing and policy-making when parties work together in office, and the stages that eventually lead to government termination. A particular emphasis is on the study of how coalitions govern together even when they have different agendas. Do individual ministers decide, or the Prime minister or is the outcome a result of a process of coalition compromise? The volume covers 16 West European countries and introduces the case of Croatia, focusing mainly on governments formed during the past two decades.

Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu.

The series is edited by Susan Scarrow, Chair of the Department of Political Science, University of Houston, and Jonathan Slapin, Professor of Political Institutions and European Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Zurich.

Torbjörn Bergman, Professor of Political Science, Umeå University,Hanna Back, Professor of Political Science, Lund University,Johan Hellström, Associate Professor of Political Science, Umeå University

Torbjörn Bergman is Professor of Political Science at Umeå University, Sweden. He has previously held Research Chair positions at the Luleå University of Technology and Södertörn University Stockholm. He has also been a Visiting Researcher at the University of California (1999-2000) and University
of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2006-2007).

Hanna Bäck is Professor of Political Science at Lund University. Her research focuses on political behaviour, political parties and parliamentary government. She has previously held positions at the European University Institute and University of Mannheim. She has published extensively in
international journals and has been awarded the Rudolf Wildenmann Prize for best paper presented at the ECPR Joint Sessions, and the Vincent Wright Memorial Prize for best article in West European Politics.

Johan Hellström is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Umeå University. He has published widely on comparative European politics and coalition politics and his research focuses primarily on political parties and governments in European parliamentary democracies, parlicularly examining
government formation, government stability, political institutions, and party behaviour. He has published in journals such as the European Journal of Political Research, West European Politics, Journal of European Public Policy, Political Science Research and Methods, and Government and
Opposition.

List of Figures
List of Tables
List of Contributors
1. Coalition Governance in Western Europe, Torbjörn Bergman, Hanna Bäck, and Johan Hellström
2. The Three Stages of the Coalition Life Cycle, Torbjörn Bergman, Hanna Bäck, and Johan Hellström
3. Austria: Phasing-out Grand Coalition Government, Wolfgang C. Müller
4. Belgium: From Highly Constrained and Complex Bargaining Settings to Paralysis?, Lieven De Winter and Patrick Dumont
5. Denmark: How to Form and Govern Minority Coalitions, Flemming Juul Christiansen
6. Finland: Forming and Managing Ideologically Heterogeneous Oversized Coalitions, Tapio Raunio
7. France: Electoral Necessity and Presidential Leadership Beyond Parties, Isabelle Guinaudeau and Simon Persico
8. Germany: From Stable Coalition Camps to New Complexity, Marc Debus, Holger Döring and Alejandro Ecker
9. Greece: From Coalitions as a 'State of Exception' to the New Normal?, Myrto Tsakatika
10. Iceland: Political change and coalition politics, Indriði H. Indriðason, and Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson
11. Ireland: Coalition Politics in a Fragmenting Party System, Paul Mitchell
12. Italy: Continuous Changes and Continuity in Change, Francesco Zucchini and Andrea Pedrazzani
13. The Netherlands: Old Solutions to New Problems, Tom Louwerse and Arco Timmermanns
14. Norway: Towards a More Permissive Coalitional Order, Torill Stavenes and Kaare W. Strøm
15. Portugal: Left-Wing Single-Party Governments and Right-Wing Coalitions, Patrícia Calca
16. Spain: Single-Party Majority and Minority Cabinets, Bonnie N. Field
17. Sweden: The Rise and Fall of Bloc Politics, Johan Hellström and Jonas Lindahl
18. The United Kingdom: When a Coalition Meets the Westminster Model, Who Wins?, Nick Barlow and Tim Bale
19. Croatia: Strong Prime Ministers and Weak Coalitions, Dario Nikić Čakar
20. Coalition Governance Patterns Across Western Europe, Torbjörn Bergman, Hanna Bäck, and Johan Hellström
Appendix: On Definition and Measurement
Index