TheHow,Why, andHow Wellof Minority Governments

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter reviews the existing literature on minority governments, details our research questions, and provides a summary of the country case studies. Three core research questions guide this endeavor, and the chapter introduces each in the context of the existing literature, and unanswered questions. First, we ask why minority governments form. This includes whether the formation of minority governments (as distinct from majority coalitions) is related to political institutions (such as legislative rules and organization), electoral incentives, the shape or composition of the party system, or something else. Second, we explore how minority governments govern once in office. After all, government formation is normally a relatively short-lived process compared to the actual time the government will spend in office. Questions here include whether minority governments operate with formal agreements with other parties in parliament, their alliance-building strategies within parliament, and the motivations of the non-governing political parties or individual legislators that provide support to minority governments. Third, we explore how well minority governments perform, cross-nationally and, where useful, compared to periods of majority government in the same country. This includes common indicators of performances—such as the legislative productivity and rates of survival in office of minority governments, and what citizens think of the performance of the minority government—as well as more nuanced assessments that contextualize performance in the particular national context.