Coalition Governance in Western Europe

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