Minority Governments in Comparative Perspective

A minority government is a situation where the party or parties represented at cabinet do not between them hold a majority of seats in the national legislature. This volume explores and analyzes the formation, functioning, and performance of minority governments, what we term the why, how, and how well.

Format: Hardback
Length: 384 pages
Publication date: 27 October 2022
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Minority governments are a fascinating phenomenon in parliamentary democracies, where the party or parties represented in the cabinet do not hold a majority of seats in the national legislature. These governments are characterized by their political responsibility to parliament, their ability to be removed by it, and their reliance on majority support in the parliament to legislate. This volume explores and analyzes the formation, functioning, and performance of minority governments, also known as the "why, how, and how well."

The volume begins with overviews of the concept of minority governments and the puzzles surrounding them in parliamentary systems. It establishes the current terms of the debate and provides a foundation for the chapters that follow.

The thirteen chapters that comprise the volume are presented by leading country experts who offer in-depth case studies of minority governments in different settings. These case studies provide rich, contextualized analyses of the challenges and opportunities faced by minority governments, as well as their impact on political institutions and public policy.

The final chapter of the volume draws broader, comparative-based conclusions from the country studies. It pushes the literature forward and outlines directions for future research on minority governments.

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 characterized by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigor. 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 Nicole Bolleyer, Chair of Comparative Political Science at the Geschwister Scholl Institut, LMU Munich, and Jonathan Slapin, Professor of Political Institutions and European Politics at the Department of Political Science, University of Vienna.

Weight: 734g
Dimension: 241 x 162 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192871657