Cabinets and coalition bargaining
Subtitle: the democratic life cycle in Western Europe
By: edited by Kaare Strom, Wolfgang C. Muller and Torbjorn Bergman.
Contributors: Strom, Kaare.; Müller, Wolfgang C., 1957-; Bergman, Torbjörn.
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 443
ISBN-13: 9780198297864
Subjects: Coalition governments -- Europe, Western; Europe, Western -- Politics and government -- 20th century
Description: "Cabinets and Coalition Bargaining: The Democratic Life Cycle in Western Europe provides a comprehensive analysis of coalition politics in Western Europe over the post-war period. It champions a dynamic approach in which the various stages in the life of coalitions influence each other. After a review of the literature a theory chapter addresses the roles of bargaining and transaction costs in coalition governance. Eight comparative chapters address the topics of government formation (government type, formation duration), coalition agreements, portfolio allocation, conflict management, cabinet termination and duration, and the electoral consequences of coalition government. The book is based on the most comprehensive data set ever employed in coalition studies that includes both coalitional and single-party countries and governments. Each chapter first provides a comparative overview of the phenomenon under study and then moves on to state-of-the art statistical analysis. Conceptually and in the statistical analysis the study argues for an integrated approach stressing the relevance of countries, time, 'structural attributes', actors' preferences, institutions, the coalition's bargaining environment, and 'critical events'. Indeed, sufficient explanations of most phenomena under study require independent variables from several of these categories"--Jacket.
Table of contents: title: Coalition theory and cabinet governance : an introduction / Wolfgang C. Muller, Torbjorn Bergman, and Kaare Strom; title: Bargaining, transaction costs, and coalition governance / Arthur Lupia and Kaare Strom; title: The empirical study of cabinet governance / Torbjorn Bergman... [et al.]; title: Uncertainty and complexity in cabinet formation / Lieven De Winter and Patrick Dumont; title: Coalition agreements and cabinet governance / Wolfgang C. Muller and Kaare Strom; title: Government formation and cabinet type in parliamentary democracies / Paul Mitchell and Benjamin Nyblade; title: Portfolio allocation / Luca Verzichelli; title: Conflict management in coalition government / Rudy B. Andeweg and Arco Timmermans; title: Cabinet termination in Western Europe / Erik Damgaard; title: Institutions, chance, and choices : the dynamics of cabinet survival in the parliamentary democracies of Western Europe (1945; title: 99) / Thomas Saalfeld; title: Coalition membership and electoral performance / Hanne Marthe Narud and Henry Valen; title: Conclusion : cabinet governance in parliamentary democracies / Kaare Strom ... [et al.].