The Three Stages of the Coalition Life Cycle

Abstract

This chapter focuses on presenting the main research questions and answers provided in the literature on the different stages of the coalition life cycle. For example, focusing on the first stage—the formation stage—several researchers have tried to explain why specific types of governments form. Other scholars have asked why it takes longer to form governments in some contexts, or have tried to explain how parties distribute ministerial and policy payoffs when forming a cabinet. Focusing on the second stage of the coalition life cycle, we review the growing literature on coalition governance, concentrating on three coalition governance models; the ministerial autonomy model, the coalition compromise model, and the PM-dominated model—each of which make different assumptions about the actors that dominate the governance process in coalition governments. Focusing on the last phase of the coalition life cycle, the termination of governments, scholars have long aimed to explain the duration of cabinets, asking why some cabinets last longer than others. At the end of this chapter, we present some expectations about changes to the coalition life cycle which we are likely to observe considering the party system change we have seen in many Western European countries.