Policy Coordination under Minority and Majority Rule

Abstract

This chapter analyzes mechanisms for policy coordination inside and outside Sweden’s Government Offices. It looks at how governments of different types have coordinated their policies, and focuses on the mechanisms used by single-party minority governments and by coalition minority and majority governments. Over time, Swedish political parties have developed methods for achieving stable, long-term cooperation, and these methods have become increasingly formalized and institutionalized. Coordination at the national level takes place both before and after elections, and tends to blur the boundary between majority and minority governments. These new patterns of cooperation pose new challenges to the government’s ability to coordinate policy.