How intra-party power relations affect the coalition behaviour of political parties

Abstract

This article examines the impact of intra-party politics on the coalition behaviour of political parties. The policy-seeking model of party behaviour is refined by differentiating between policy purity and policy influence, arguing that the distribution of power within political parties affects how inclined they are to abandon policy ideals to participate in coalitions and thereby gain influence on policy. Three contradictory hypotheses are tested in a multivariate analysis based on the legislative coalition behaviour of 11 Danish parties from 1953 to 2004. The analysis shows that, among parties close to the government in policy terms, those dominated by the parliamentary party group more frequently enter binding legislative coalitions than do parties dominated by their national party organization. This implies that the ability of parties to convert parliamentary representation into actual influence on parliamentary decisions is conditioned by their internal distribution of power.