Minority Government and Majority RuleMinority governments in parliamentary democracies are conventionally considered to be unstable and ineffective aberrations from the principle of majority rule. Through analysis of over 350 postwar governments, the author shows that minority governments are neither exceptional nor unstable but in fact a common feature of parliamentary democracies and frequently perform as well as, or better than, majority coalitions. Using the Italian and Norwegian governments as case studies, he suggests that minority governments are particularly likely to form when parties anticipate competitive elections and when opposition parties are able to influence legislative decisions. As an attempt to document and explain a very common form of government in parliamentary democracies, this book will contribute significantly to the understanding of the importance of electoral competition in democratic politics. |
Contents
The problem of minority government | 1 |
The rationality of minority government formation | 23 |
Forming minority governments | 56 |
Minority governments in office | 93 |
the politics of cooptation and defection | 132 |
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Common terms and phrases
Agudat Israel alternative analysis assumptions bargaining power behavior cabinet formation cabinet type centrist centrist parties Chapter Christian Democrats Christian People's party committee countries date date months elections electoral decisiveness ernments explanation of minority external support Fianna Fáil formal minority governments formateur Formation attempts Formation Demission Tenure fractionalization governing parties Government date date government participation governmental investiture Italian parties Italy JON ELSTER Labor legislative coalitions legislative seats legislature Liberals majority coalitions majority party governments MC MC ments minority cabinets minority gov minority government formation minority situations Nonpartisan nonsocialist nority governments Norway Norwegian oppositional influence parliamentary basis party leaders party system polarization political parties political systems postwar PSDI PvdA resignation SFIO single-party Socialist SSDP Storting strategies substantive minority governments support agreements Table theory UDSR undersized variables volatility vote voters