Dissolution of Governments in Scandinavia: A Critical Events Perspective*

Abstract

For many years, scholars have sought to discover why governments in Western European parliamentary democracies frequently dissolve before the time constitutionally mandated for the holding of elections. Recent research has suggested the potential importance of unpredictable changes in the political environment for bringing about governmental dissolutions. Although not specifically described. the importance of ‘critical events‘ is suggested by both aggregate patterns of dissolutions and anecdotal accounts of particular governments.It is our purpose in this paper to develop further this critical evenrs perspective and evaluate empirically actual governmental histories in light of these developments. Two specific goals are pursued. First, we delineate categories of critical events, thereby grounding the concept of a critical event within existing knowledge of governmental stability. Second, we apply this categorical schema of events to the dissolution of Scandinavian governments during the years 1945–1980. In so doing, we seek not only to assess the adequacy of our conceptualization of events, but also to provide a theoretically and substantively accurate account of the death of modern Scandinavian governments.